Blazblue: Fictional Emptiness
by Hellifrit
Summary: She was born with the cursed power that can destroy the world. She had no clue what to do about it as it corrupts her day by day. Fate brings the Grim Reaper to teach her the power inside her dream. Now, she repays her long life debt by bringing him out of the Boundary. This fiction is just the beginning of their new journey. A collaboration work with Mechadragon99.
1. Prologue

Location:?

White. Blank. There is nothing here. Nothing exist here,all there is in this place is a large gate with symbols and clouds moving at the endless white sky...

And a pink haired girl lying on the ground panting.

"You sure you don't want to take a break for now Louise?"

In front of Louise is a young adult with white spiky hair and heterochromia: his left eye being green and his right being red. He wears a vibrant red sleeved coat with two long thin tails hanging from the back. Under it is a black shirt with three red belts and several belts covering his right arm. He wears a pair of black gloves with a red shell on the backs of the hands. He wears a black trousers and steel-toed red boots. He has a bright green stud earring on his left ear, not on the lobe of the ear but further up.

"It's okay. I feel like I can keep going, Ragna." Louise said with a smile on her face.

Ragna look at her with a worried expression, as she had just exhausted herself from the training they did few minutes ago. The pinkette then look up, only to see his expression. She then frown and narrowed her eyes and then tell him.

"Please don't look at me like that. If I say I can keep going means I can. Besides, who's my big brother figure?" Louise asked Ragna, not allowing the frown leaving her face.

Ragna stare at her for a moment before he sigh and replied to her.

"Me... And because of me I made you develop this habit."

"As expected of my Ragna~~." She replied in an oddly cheerful tone.

Suddenly, Louise's vision becomes blurry. ' _Why is it have to be now...'_ she thought _._

"I guess it's time for you to wake up now. Don't want you to miss you class today." Said the reaper as he looks at her body slowly becomes translucent.

Louise have to admit that she isn't exactly looking forward to it, however she knows that the reaper is right. She can't skip classes for the sake of training with Ragna. Sometimes she wonder if she can be selfish for once.

"You know what to do Louise." Ragna says as he look at Louise.

She immediately replied "I know. Here goes nothing."

Louise then feel the surge of power that is inside of her disappeared. She is glad that is the case as she don't need to worry about going berserk at school thanks to a certain harlot that she hates very much. Before she completely disappear from the place, the pink hair girl hear Ragna said something to her.

"Well, time to wake up now Louise. See you tonight."

* * *

Location:Louise's room

Bright light shines directly to the pinkette's eyes, indicating it is indeed morning.

She immediately remember today is the Summoning Ceremony. Louise did told about it to Ragna and he wish her luck to get a good one. She is aware that she does not have any confidence to get something as great as a dragon or griffin, but at least he gave the pinkette be a small push on her confidence.

"Well,time to get myself ready. If not I might be late."

Louise then get out of her bed and walk towards her closet and begin to change into her academy uniform;Which consist of a long cape over a white uniform,knee-length skirt and long black stockings.

"Maybe I should have not over-stay my welcome in my astral land. The sleeping habits is affecting me now." She muttered to herself.

After 10 minutes, she finish changing and begin her way to the cafeteria.

* * *

Location:Hallway

Students are starting to got out of their room to the cafeteria. The usual scene of students flooding the hallway is in-front of Louise. Students from different background all gather at this Academy to improve their magic(which for them is a necessity). Among the student she found the woman she despises in the academy the most.

Kirche von Anhalt Zerbst.

She has _a_ long red hair all the way down to her skirt and tan wears a brown ankle heels and the same academy uniform,but her uniform is so tight that her cleavage is exposing for every men and women to see. Obviously the men are ogling over her and the women are giving her a glare with jealousy.

The redhead then saw Louise and walk up to her and says with a smirk "Hello there Zero. I'm looking towards your 'Majestic and Powerful' familiar. Ufufufu."

 _'Just you watch you harlot. I will show you!'_ Louise thought while ignoring the redhead and continues her way to the cafeteria.

* * *

Location:Courtyard

The class for second year was cancelled due to the ceremony that they, the second year student, need to participate. Mr. Colbert is the teacher who will make sure nothing unexpected happens. He gave a speech and begin the ceremony.

Everyone begin to summon their respective familiars, each represent their own element. A blond haired teenage boy called Guiche gets a oversize mole (which Louise somehow finds it very fitting for him, given his personality) and his 'girlfriend', Montmorency, a teenage girl with twin blond pigtails, gets a frog. It perfectly fits their element, being [Earth] and [Water] respectively. During Kirche's turn, Louise could not believe she manage to get a Salamander and said species can be quite powerful. Even more astonishing is Tabitha, a blue-haired girl, manage to get a dragon, which immediately proves that the blue haired girl is a very powerful individual.

"Has everyone finish their turn?" Mr. Colbert asked to the crowd.

Right after he ask the crowd,Kiche looks at the pinkette and her lips curve up to a then points her finger at her.

"There is still Louise here!" she instantly reply to Mr. Colbert.

' _Ugh_ , _guess I just need to face it. Well, here goes. Please wish me a better luck Ragna.'_ She thought before she walk out of the crowd and start her chant.

"My servant that existed somewhere in this vast universe, my divine, beautiful, wise, powerful servant, heed my call, I wish from very bottom of my heart and add to my guidance and appear!"

And as expected by Louise,an explosion occurs. During her chant, Louise thought she heard Kirche said something, but immediately dismiss it as she thought it is probably just her imagination.

While the smoke still lingers, everyone heard something they did not expect, the sound of a man.

"Jezz,What the hell?! Who in the right mind drop me at 50 feet above the sky?!At least give me a warning or something!" the unknown man shouted.

Louise's eyes instantly widen, as she recognize the man's voice. She hopes she is wrong but when the smoke clear, her suspicion is correct.

The red coat, white hair, heterochromia eyes. Yes, it's definitely him!

"Huh? Where the hell am I and-" His sentence immediately stops and his eyes widen when he see a certain pinkette in front of him.

Their mouth fails to make a single word out. Only there is one word that is in their mind and they speak out the word.

"Ragna/Louise?"

* * *

A/N

The prologue done. Nothing more to say than please enjoy. Tell me what I can improve in the reviews.

For those who read the original version of this chapter, you will notice that I have change many thing in this chapter. I will explain it in the next chapter.

Anyway, that's all.

Good night.

Edited on 2/26/2017 (re-edited at 3/3/2017,Happy birthday Ragna!)


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer*

I do not own Familiar of Zero and Blazblue. They belong to their respective creators and publishers.

 **A Huge change to Prologue, go re-read it.**

Without further ado. Let's begin.

Also here are the speech text types

Normal-Hi

Thoughts- _Hi_

* * *

Location:? _30 minutes ago_

After he trained Louise for the night, Ragna decided to walk towards to the gate, crossed his leg, close his eyes and meditate. He doubted that his current situation would be possible for him to sleep anyway seeing as he doesn't even have a physical body to begin with after he ended the 'Dream of God'.

He had forgotten how long had it been since he walked through the Azure Gate and allow his world to be free from the cycle of destruction and renewal. A world that is not affected by intervention from Amaterasu Unit or Takamagahara System. By doing so, Ragna allowed all 'possibility' to flourish in his world. There were a few times he wanted to go back to his world and see how far his action affected the world.

Then again Ragna doesn't believe he will be able to return even if he wanted to. Not that anyone he knows will remember him anyway and nothing remains of his information in the Takamagahara System. As such, he won't be able to exist in his world.

He was pulled out of his thought when a light suddenly shined brightly in front of him. He opened his eyes and saw an oval-shaped, green portal in front of him.

' _The hell is this?'_ Ragna thought as he stood. ' _There should be nothing in this place, so why is this portal here?'_

He doesn't believe this portal was conjured by the vampire Rachel, as the portal she conjures has always been black, plus there is no rose petals flutter by and disperse. Neither this portal is made by Kokonoe. Unless there is a huge leap in technology back in his world, it is completely impossible to go through the Gate without the Azure.

So who is responsible for this portal?

' _Well, I guess I should walk through the portal. I mean there is no harm in trying right?'_

With that thought, Ragna walked towards the portal and he hoped he doesn't regret it.

* * *

Location: Courtyard _Present_

Current the grim reaper and the pinkette are staring each other while everyone is in complete silence, only the sound of birds chirping can be heard. With no one saying a word it was quiet for some time until Louise decided to break the ice by speaking first.

"Ragna, what are you doing here in the academy?"

"How the hell am I suppose to know? All I did was walking through a green portal and -wait, did you just say academy?" Ragna reply with clear confusion.

Looking around his surrounding, Ragna noticed that there are people around him, wearing the same uniform as Louise. Each of them was only teenager, possibly around sixteen to seventeen years old, staring at them curiously as if they are judging him. From their looks alone it seems that they are very disappointed. Ragna is immediately pulled out from his thought by Louise's shout.

"Hey! Are you listening to me Ragna? I was asking what are you doing here and you answer only half of the question."

Ragna immediately looks at her and apologizes to her. "Sorry, just shocked from all this stuff."

"Louise," a member of the crowd called, "before both of you start to ignoring all of us over here, can you explain why did you summon a commoner?"

"Isn"t it obvious?" another person said. "She's Louise the Zero after all!"

The crowd immediately start laughing at her and Louise try her best to ignore them and focus on Ragna. Luckily, the bald teacher, raise his hand and stop the laugh and look at Louise.

"Miss Valliere, you have to hurry and finish the ceremony. The next class will begin any minute. How much more time are you going to take for this summoning? Hurry and form a contract." Mr. Colbert says to Louise.

Louise then sighed and reply to the teacher.

"I know, I will do it fast."

She then looked at the grim reaper that remains on the same spot, sitting down looking at her with an unreadable look.

"So... shall we finish it?" Louise asked her brother figure.

"Well it's not like I have anywhere I can go, might as well stick with you," Ragna replied. Then, he stood up and walked towards to the pinkette until he is in front of her and then nod to her. She immediately replied him with a smile.

"Kneel, Ragna." And Ragna immediately complied and kneel.

Louise closed her eyes and waved her wand and start to chant.

"My name is Louise Francoise Le Blanc de la Valliere," she declared. "Pentagon of the Five Elemental powers, bless this humble being and make him my familiar."

Louise leaned closer to him and start to blush and Ragna immediately understand why the pinkette is blushing. The grim reaper couldn't but internally sigh.

" _We, l I guess I have to deal with it."_ Ragna thought.

The kiss is over quickly, and then she turned her face away from him, hiding her embarrassment.

Suddenly, his body turned hot and agitated and through his veins, like molten lava trying to erupt from his body. Ragna immediately hissed and clenched his teeth and he formed a fist with his left hand. Once the pain is gone, he immediately pulled off his glove and he sees a collection of runes that he does not understand what it means.

"Oh," the bald teacher lean down and examine the etchings on the back of Ragna's left hand. "Those are some very strange runes..."

"Well," Mr. Colbert stands back up and turn his face towards to the students. "Let's go back to class, everyone."

Then, Mr. Colbert rose gently into the air. Ragna widened his eyes but immediately recover. It is not a surprise for him anyway since he saw Nine did the same thing but with higher speed anyway. Then one by one every student raised into the sky along with the teacher.

All except his new master, Louise.

"Well, I guess we should walk back to your class then." Ragna looks at the downcast pinkette and she nodded slowly, possibly because she felt sad that she can't perform things like them. Ragna lifted his right hand and pat her head and ruffle her hair while giving her an encouraging smile.

"Hey, don't feel bad okay? Remember that you are unique in your own way, you have something that they don't have and I'm here to help you. Better yet, now I can train you to control _that power_ more often with you now."

Louise looks up to his face and immediately flash him a cheerful gentle smile.

"Thanks, Ragna. I think I need that." And with that the new master- familiar duo walk towards her class building.

* * *

A/N

And done!

I was going to upload this chapter last week, but I was busy studying for my exam so I end up had to delay it till tonight.

Oh, and a quick note. This story will have a slow update, so you might see an update only once in a while.

Anyway on to the reviews.

Dread Grim Reaper: Thanks dude, and good luck and take care too.

xbox432, v3yah, guest, painfuldarksoul: Well I change it, you can see it in the prologue to see the change.

ArmantusCumPinnae: I will warn you guys when this story stops or have a slow update, don't worry.

Please tell me how to improve the story through reviews guys. I need more tips to make this story more enjoyable to read.

And that's all.

Good night.

Update note (3/11/17): Grammer fixed thanks to **tentaclecat** pointing out my mistakes.


	3. Chapter 2

Location:Second year classroom

When Ragna entered the classroom, he didn't expected it to be almost like the ones in the Military Academy. Granted, he only caught a glimpse of the classroom back when he was training with Jūbei before they move to the lower levels of the city so he doesn't really know how similar this academy's classroom is compare to Military Academy's one.

The moment Louise stepped through the door and into the classroom, with Ragna two steps behind behind her, everyone stopped talking and immediately turned to look at her.

Laughter instantly echoes through the classroom, he can hear people saying 'It's Zero and her familiar' or 'It's the failure!'. Ragna was about to shout at the them but Louise stop him by raising her left arm while shaking her head, ignoring the laughter. It takes a few seconds for Ragna to begrudgingly relent, not wanting to cause more trouble for his new master. But he continues to glare at the students as if saying 'Keep laughing, I DARE YOU!' while following Louise and the students who looked at his eyes instantly stop laughing and continues their activities.

He could see the familiars that the students have brought, some are unique while the others are same. They are animals, some magical, some not, as far as the grim reaper can tell. He could see a red, oversize lizard -a salamander if he remembers correctly, according to Saya when she was reading a picture book- with a small flame at the tip of the tail,curled up sleeping under a chair. How does it not burn itself up or any of the wooden furniture the grim reaper has no idea. There were students with owls on their shoulders. From a window, a gigantic snake peered into the class. One boy whistled, and the snake withdrew its head. Other than those, there were also ravens and cats.

Perhaps the more peculiar familiars that Ragna saw other than the salamander, were the floating eyeballs, dog- sized lizards with six legs, and some sort octopus... whatever the hell it was, squiggling about as though it needed no more water than a human being.

"I was about to not question what kind of creatures I was going to see out there," Ragna muttered himself, "but what the hell is that floating eyeball? And that octopus... _thing?"_

"The floating eyeball is called a bugbear," She answered the ex-criminal, "and the octopus thing you called, its a skua." she continued as she made her way to what was probably her seat and sat down.

" _How the hell is that floating eyeball related to bug or bear? And really, a skua? I'm pretty sure a skua is a group of seabirds according to Saya."_ Ragna thought to himself. He moved to take the seat next to Louise, but his hand had no sooner reached for the chair than her head spun around and she looked at him.

"What is it Louise?"

"Well... it's just that the chairs are normally used by a mage only." Louise fidgeted.

"Really? Then what about those who _wants_ to learn magic? Are they not allowed?" Ragna questioned her.

She opened her mouth, but instantly shut her mouth, realizing that what the grim reaper said was right.

Seeing that Louise didn't say anything else, Ragna decided to take the seat next to her.

No sooner than Ragna sitting down next to Louise, the door opened and Louise's head spun back around as a plump, round faced middle-aged woman in voluminous purple robe and hat walked into the classroom. Ragna assumed that she must have been the teacher. The woman swept the room with her eyes and gave them all a satisfied smile and spoke.

"Well, everyone, it seems that the Springtime Familiar Summoning was a great success. I, Chevreuse, always enjoy seeing the new familiars that are summoned each spring." The woman now known as Cheveruse said. "Although..."

"It seems that you have summoned quite a... _peculiar_ familiar, Miss Vallière."she remarked as she looked at Ragna. The comment was fairly innocent, but the classroom exploded with laughter.

"Louise the Zero! Don't go around grabbing random commoners off the street just because you can't summon anything!" One of the students -blond with chubby build- shouted.

Louise rocketed out of her seat. Her long strawberry blonde hair billowed as she stood up and raised her voice in anger.

"Shut the hell up, Malicorne the fat ass! I did everything properly! I just didn't know I ended up summoning Ragna!" she pointed her thin, feminine index finger on Ragna while everyone jaw dropped except the grim reaper when Louise shouted such a vulgar word at the blond boy.

"WHAT! DON'T CALL ME A FAT ASS! And Don't lie! I bet you couldn't even cast 'Summon Servant' properly, right?"

The other students chuckled. But before Louise could say anything, Ragna turn his head at a neck breaking speed and glared at the blond kid.

"Hey kid," Ragna calls him with a very cold tone. "I think I have enough of you annoying ass hoarse voice shouting at Louise. Plus, are you really such a stuck-up kid to let your teacher to wait for you guys to start the class?"

Ragna certainly don't make Jūbei to wait. If he does his master would just beat him till he couldn't even lift his finger. Even today, Ragna is still horrified by that experience.

Before the boy even say a word, Chevreuse pointed at them with the wand in her hand. The two students suddenly jerked about like puppets on a string and rigidly sat back down.

"Miss Vallière, Mister Malicorne. Please stop this unnecessary argument." Chevreuse said sternly. "Calling classmates 'Zero' or ,*ahem*, 'Fat ass' is unacceptable. Especially you Miss Vallière, calling such profound words is unbecoming of you."

"And while I hate to say this," The teacher continues, "I think agree with Miss Vallière's familiar, sans the profanity he uses, that we need to start our class."

Seeing that all the students were silent, Cheveruse decided to start the class.

Chevreuse coughed heavily and waved her wand. A few pebbles materialized on her desktop.

"My Runic name is 'Red Clay.' Chevreuse the Red Clay." The teacher introduced herself. "This year, I will be teaching you all the magic of the Earth element. Do you know the four great elements of magic, Mister Malicorne?"

"Y-Yes, Mrs. Chevreuse. They are Fire, Water, Earth and Wind." the blond boy now known as Malicorne answered.

Chevreuse nodded.

"And combined with the now-lost element of 'Void,' there are five elements in total - as everyone should already know. Of the five elements, I believe Earth holds an extremely important position. This isn't just because my affinity is Earth, nor is it simply a personal preference."

Once again, Chevreuse coughed heavily. Ragna was not really sure if she was ill or if it is some sort of verbal tic.

"The magic of Earth is very important magic that governs the creation of all matter. If it wasn't for Earth magic, we wouldn't be able to produce or process necessary metals. Raising buildings from large boulders and harvesting crops would also involve much more work. In this manner, the magic of the Earth element is intimately related to everyone's life."

" _So magic pretty much replace technologies in this world."_ Ragna thought.

Now that he think about it, he remember Louise once said that anyone with magic can become noble, at least in the country she live in.

In the grim reaper's opinion, he found it a complete and utter silly. It's literally like saying a person can become a part of Duodecim just because they have money.

"Now, everyone, please recall that the basic magic of the Earth element is 'transmutation'. While there will be people here who have already learned this in their first year, basics build foundations, so let's review it once more."

She looked down at the pebbles and waved over them, muttering an incantation. The pebble glow for a moment, white-hot like a burning coals, and then faded to reveal that the pebble had changed into sparkling metal ingots.

"Is that g-g-gold, Mrs. Chevreuse!?" someone asked incredulously.

"No, it isn't. It's plain brass. Only Square-class mages are able to transmute to gold. I'm just..." Chevreuse gave a self-important cough. "A Triangle mage..."

"Louise." Ragna whispered.

"What?" the pinkette whispered back. "We are in the middle of a lesson, Ragna."

"What the hell does she mean by triangle and square?"

Louise immediately looked at Ragna with wide eyes, as if she is shocked that he forgot something important. After a few second, the pinkette recovers and decided to explain to him.

"It's the number of elements that they can add to a spell, which also determines the level of a mage." she said and then continues. " For example, you can use an Earth spell on its own. But if you add Fire magic to it, the overall power of the spell increases greatly. Those who can stack two elements like Fire and Earth together are called Line mages. Mrs. Chevreuse, being able to combine three elements, Earth-Earth-Fire, is a Triangle mage. When you add an element to itself, it reinforces that element and makes it stronger."

"So in another words, you could say that the teacher over there is a fairly powerful mage, because she's a Triangle?" Ragna asked.

"Yup. I thought I told this before to you, Ragna. Did you forgot?"

"Miss Vallière"

Before he could answer the teacher suddenly call out Louise.

"Please refrain from private chatter during lessons."

"I'm sorry..."

"Since you have the time to chatter, perhaps I should have you demonstrate for me?"

Louise fidgeted. "Eh? Me?"

"Yes. Try changing these pebbles here into a metal of your choice."

Louise didn't stand up. She simply sat there looking troubled and fidgety.

 _'Here we go again.'_ Ragna thought. He had seen it before in several of the training they had at the gate.

He knows where this is going. He just hoped that this doesn't cause too much trouble. Then again, Ragna knows wherever he goes, trouble follows to him.

"Miss Vallière! Is something the matter?"

Mrs. Chevreuse called for her again, but a tan redhead girl raised her voice in concern.

"Umm..."

"Yes, what is the matter, Ms. Zerbst?" the teacher asked the girl.

"I think it would be better if you didn't let her..."

"And why is that?" she asked innocently.

"It's dangerous," the student answered plainly. The majority of the class nodded in agreement.

"Dangerous? How so?"

"This is your first time teaching Louise, right?"

"It is, but I hear she's a hard worker. Now, Miss Vallière. Don't you worry, just try it. You won't be able to do anything if you dread making mistakes."

"Don't, Louise!" one of the student cried, her face pale.

But Louise stood up.

"I'll do it."

Her first step towards the front of the room was shaky and nervous, but the second one was strong and determined. Mrs, Chevreuse steeped aside with a smile as Louise took her position at the desk.

"Miss Vallière, you have to visualize vividly the metal that you wish to transmute them into."

Louise nodded and begin to chant. She closed her eyes and waved her wand. Ragna raised his feet a little from the chair, as if readying to block an attack.

 _'There!'_ Ragna immediately sprung up the moment the pebble start to vibrate violently and jump away from the teacher's desk to the corner of the room. What comes next was what he knew would happen. In fact, every students in the room knows what would happen.

An explosion.

Louise and Chevreuse caught the blast full-on and were thrown against the blackboard, as people screamed. Frightened familiars added to the chaos. The salamander suddenly woke from its sleep and stood up on its hind legs, breathing a jet of flame. A manticore burst into flight and smashed through a window to escape. Through the hole, the giant snake that had been peeking in earlier slithered in and swallowed someone's raven.

The classroom was in pandemonium.

The tan redhead stood up and pointed a finger at Louise.

"That's why I told you not to let her do it!"

"Jeez, Vallière! Save us some grief and just quit school already!" One of the student shouted.

"My Lucky got eaten by a snake! Lucky!"

Ragna signed at the corner of the room. This is the reason why he only train her on hand-to-hand combat, it happens every time she attempts to cast a spell when they were training.

Mrs. Chevreuse lay on the floor; judging by her occasional twitching, she wasn't dead.

A soot-blackened Louise rose slowly. She was a miserable sight to behold. Her torn blouse revealed a slender shoulder, and her panties could be seen beneath her ripped skirt.

Surprisingly, She didn't seem at all fazed by the discord in the room. She pulled out a handkerchief to wipe the soot off her face.

"Looks like I messed up a little..." she said, in a weak voice.

Of course, that elicited a vehement response from the other students.

"That wasn't 'a little!', Louise the Zero!"

"Your success rate is always ZERO!"

Well, at least it isn't as bad as when she goes on a raging fit against him. He knows just how destructive she can be.

* * *

Location:School hallway

Ragna and Louise leave the classroom after they cleaned up the mess- which she was not allowed used magic. It's fine with her anyway since she couldn't cast it. While Louise is not very angry, Ragna can tell she doesn't like the end result.

Mrs. Chevreuse woke up two hours after the disaster caused by Louise, and while she did return to class, she didn't give any more lectures on Transmutation for that entire day.

Maybe she had been too traumatized to try again. Honestly, this is one of the most ridiculous thing to get traumatized. Then again he had, and still has, phasmophobia so he can't judge her for such trauma.

"You know you can't just constantly blame yourself right, Louise. We both know why anything you cast is an explosion." Ragna said, trying to comfort her.

"I know," she replied. "I know that you have to end up 'Observe' me to hold _that power_ so that I don't repeat what happen... 11 years ago..."

11 years ago, back when she was 5... that was when she first saw the gate. Both of them doesn't know how and why she was able to enter the gate. It was there Ragna tried to 'Observe' her.

It worked, but since he was inexperienced, he had to 'Observe' continuously or both the grim reaper's and the pinkette's existence instantly vanished. Ragna remember this was the same thing that the dancer, Amane Nishiki, offered him in order to slow down the process of him becoming the black beast. Of course he rejected the offer that time.

Ragna put his right hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her.

"The past is the past, Louise. You had no control over _the power_ before, right? Now at least you have some control over it." Ragna said, trying to reassured her.

Louise looked up to him and stared at him for a few second. Afterwards, she signed and look back to the front.

"You're right, I should stop thinking about it." Louise replied.

She then contnued. "I'm tired now, the shit that I pulled today exhausted me. Let's go back to my room"

With that statement, Ragna followed the pinkette back to her room. He wondered how her room would look like.

* * *

Location:Louise's room

"So, this is your room Louise?"

As it turn out, Louise's room looks rather comfortable. For a bedroom, this is surprisingly enormous, about 210 square feet. If you treated the window as south, the bed would be situated on the west side, the door would be to the north, and a big wardrobe would stand to the east. All the furniture looked like valuable antiques, probably enough to feed a family for their lifetime.

Louise did told Ragna about her room in the academy about the time she enroll in the academy. She told the grim reaper that the room is, and quote, 'It's average. Not as big as my room back at home, but still enough to fit all the necessary thing I need for my time here.'

If this is what the pinkette call as average, Ragna can't pretty much imagine how large her room is.

"Yup," she replied, "this is my room. Quite huge for a bedroom right?"

Ragna shrugged and walk into the room with Louise. She then turn back to face Ragna and bows to him.

"I know it is very late, but I guess I should apologize to you first. I summoned you so suddenly without any warning"

"Nah, I'm cool. Just regret that I didn't anticipate that ridiculous 50 feet fall." He shrugged, "But now is not the time to apologize, we thing need to address a problem."

"A problem?" Louise tilt her head and asked.

The grim reaper nodded and replied to her.

"Yeah, we need an alibi. I fell like there are going to be some asshole who are so bored that they decide to make some baseless, shitty rumors about us."

It's not his own reputation that he is trying to defend, in fact he don't give two shits about his reputation. His reputation was at the bottom of the barrel in his world anyway, so why should he be bothered about his reputation even if he was in a new world. No, the reason he address such issue is because of Louise.

A year ago when she started enrolled in this academy, she told Ragna how she earned the title 'Louise the Zero' because she can't any spell. Any spell she cast will only result in an explosion. If the student decided to spread rumors about both of them with her already bad reputation... he hope she doesn't do anything stupid.

He still remember how she panicked and jumped to conclusion when he told her his full name, Ragna the Bloodedge. She thought he was some sort of mage that is able to manipulate his enemies' blood from their inside and kill them from inside out. Ragna immediately dispel her thought and reassure her that he doesn't have that kind of ability.

"Yeah, now I think about it, we really need one. Not that it is going to stop those idiots from making ridiculous rumors, but at least we have something to work with if other people question our relationship." Louise answered.

She then yawned loudly and immediately blushed, embarrassed that she yawned so loud. Ragna saw this and decided that their problem can wait until tomorrow. For now Louise need to rest for the next day.

"Get some rest Louise, you need those for your classes tomorrow right?" he asked Louise.

She responded Ragna with a nod and he decided to walk out of the room.

"W-wait, why are you going out? Aren't you tired too?" Louise blurted out when she saw him walking towards the door.

"Don't you need to change your clothes? I mean you can't be serious about allowing a dude to see you change right?" he immediately reply to her.

Louise instantly blushes from the statement, but quickly recover and requested Ragna to wait outside of her room. Ragna then walk out of the room and close the door then lean against the wall while waiting for her to change. He waited for about a minute, then Louise opened the door and beckon the grim reaper to enter the room. Louise then walked towards to her bed. Ragna saw a pile of hay at the side of the bed and he walked towards to it. Louise saw him and her eyes widened when she see him sit down on the hay stack and leaned against the wall. Ragna saw her eyes and frowned.

"What's wrong, Louise?" the grim reaper asked.

The pinkette shifted her gaze, face flushed. "U-um, I didn't realize I summoned you this morning... I-I thought I would summon an animal as a familiar and not you, so -"

"Hey, don't worry," Ragna replied. "I have never slept every since I stayed at the gate, so why the hell not I just appreciate that I can finally sleep. Besides, I slept worse place before."

Louise stand on the same spot for a few second staring at him before she decides to walk towards her bed, she knows that Ragna tend to be stubborn after knowing him for so many years. She snapped her finger, letting the glow of the lamp to die out. The pinkette then muttered "Good night, Ragna" before she cover herself with a blanket.

Ragna starred at the twin moon on the sky for a while before he start to feel sleepy. The grim reaper decided to close his eyes and relaxed on the wall.

For the first time since he ended 'CentralFiction', Ragna had a sleep.

* * *

A/N

And done!

Ya, I know I am super late. I got a good explanation though. You see, I actually wanted to continue to write right after my exam, but my modem decided to die on us in a rainstorm so I end up had to replace it. Then I end up playing Under Night In-Birth Exe: Latest since it was free in PSN and trying my best to search for Persona 5 for PS3 in my country.

So, yeah. Long story short, I end up delaying it 2 weeks in a row.

Anyway now that I am back, I actually want to ask you guys one thing. Do you guys want a longer chapter, but slower update. Or you guys want a shorter chapter, but faster update.

Anyway, on to the review.

Dread Grim Reaper: Sorry for calling you dude, I always end up assume most people in the internet as male just for the safe side. I hope I don't offend you. Thanks for the review.

v3yah, painfulldarksoul: Fixed it, thanks.

ArmantusCumPinnae: Thank you, but about the story being fast paced... well actually we are still in volume one (in fact this chapter only covers up a small portion of chapter 2 and 3 of the same volume) and there is still 21 more volume to go. And for adding emotions and personal mussing, I will try my best.

Guest:Originality huh... well I guess you can say that. Then again there isn't much Znt x Blazblue to begin with.

marconator360:Thanks for the review, hopefully I am able to keep and improve the quality of the story to keep you guys interested in the future.

Kotona-chan: Hey there, Kotona-chan. You must had saw the review I written back at ZERO PEACE's "Zero No Tsukaima: Life in Tokyo" Well, welcome to my story! So, you're interested in the Blazblue series. Well, it being an anime... your answer is both yes and no. Yes because- (suddenly shoves away from my laptop by Mechadragon99 ***P.S. The following explanation is not done by me but Mechadragon99. Please endure him since his a huge fan of that franchise and tend to got a little excited when someone is slightly interested on it. And prepare for a super long rant, if you skip, you can.*** because there is an anime for it called Blazblue: Alter Memory, which is just an adaptation of the first and second game (Although some people I know pretend this anime doesn't exist). No because this is a 2D fighting game made by Arc System Works, the same company that developed Guilty Gear series and the Persona 4 Arena games. If you wish to get into the series, PREPARE FOR INFORMATION OVERLOAD!

Seriously the series is literally fighting game's equivalent of Type-Moon in my opinion, but not as bad as Guilty Gear. If you wish at least know the gist of the story in the first two game, you can go to youtube and search "Blazblue Chronophantasma Extend Extra Story" to get a very shorten version of the game's plot. Then you have to either play the third and fourth game or watch the let's play of it. Anyway, I gonna stop my long ass rant. *** Walks away***

Welp, I guess you have to take his suggestion? I don't know, that depends on you.

Please tell me how to improve the story in the reviews guys. I need more tips to make this story more enjoyable to read.

Anyway, that's all.

Good night.


	4. Chapter 3

Disclaimer*

I do not own Familiar of Zero and Blazblue. They belong to their respective creators and publishers.

Without further ado. Let's begin.

Also here are the speech text types

Normal-Hi

Thoughts- _Hi_

* * *

Location: Valliere Estate

 _"A-ahh..."_

 _In the middle of a dark room, a small child- possibly around five years old- with short pink hair knelt down with tears running down her eyes and her nightgown was tattered and stained with blood. If a person looks around the room they will notice blood spattered everywhere._

 _But there are no corpses around._

" ** _Never thought that failure actually serve his purpose. Eh, who gives a shit about him! At least that stupid vessel did his job well, intentional or not._** _"_

 _The small girl frantically look around her surrounding. What was that voice? What was the voice talking about? Failure? Vessel? Purpose? What is going on?_

 _" **Well, well! So not only that failure does his job, he even preserve and improve my creation! This is going to be fun... hehe hehe HAHAHAHAHAHA!** "_

 _Suddenly, darkness rushed and consumed everything on its way towards the helpless girl._

 _She want to move, she want call for help. She want to call her father... and mother too._

 _But she couldn't, she was frozen on the spot. All she can do is watch the darkness quickly consumes everything. The room, the blood and eventually..._

 _"A-a-AHHHHHHHH"_

* * *

Location: Louise's room

"AHHHHHH!"

Louise jumps from her bed, clutching her chest where her heart located. Her face is pale as she is trickling with cold sweat.

"Hey Louise, you okay?"

Ragna woke up abruptly when he heard Louise scream and quickly check her up. He hug her while petting the back of her head and repeatedly saying "It's okay. It's just a dream. There, there" just like how he comfort Saya back then.

Louise manage to calm herself down after some time and Ragna's sudden out of character comfort.

"Thanks. It helps," she said in a low voice, still shaken from the experience.

They remained silent for a moment while Ragna is deep in though.

' _Why did I do that? That's not like me at all except the time when either Jin or Saya-_ ' Ragna's thoughts suddenly got interrupted with a headache, as if a force is trying to stop him from thinking about his younger siblings.

He decides to shrug it off. He can think about it when the time comes. Right now he needs to get Louise ready for the day.

* * *

Location: Hallway

When he left the room with Louise, he saw three identical wooden doors along the wall. One of them opened, and from inside appeared a girl with flaming red hair. She was taller than Louise, unfortunately, shorter than Ragna. She gave off a strongly flirtatious aura. Her face was attractive, and she sported a captivating bustline. Her breasts were like melons.

The top two buttons of her blouse were undone, highlighting an impressive cleavage which impulsively drew the eyes in. Her skin was tanned, giving her the look of healthy and natural beauty.

Her height, skin color, bearing, and breast size... It all made for a strong contrast with Louise, who lacked in those charm points.

With the exception of her skin and hair color, her physical appearance reminded him of the doctor Litchi Faye-Ling.

When the girl saw Louise, she grinned broadly.

"Good morning, Louise."

Louise returned the greeting with a frown.

"Good morning... Kirche."

"That... is your familiar?" Kirche asked somewhat mockingly, pointing at Ragna.

"That's right."

"Ahaha! So it really is a human! That's amazing!"

Ragna stays silent for a bit until he said something that surprises everyone at the Hallway.

"How is your back not aching with those..." he looks away and shakily points at her chest area. "...huge... boobies?"

Seriously, sometimes the Grim Reaper questions how did these women have such a huge chest while not complaining their back aching?

Everyone's jaw drops with that sudden comment. No one! No one has said that to her before! Louise, on the other hand, tried to hold back her laughter but fail miserably as everyone can see her body shaking violently, cheeks puff up, her free hand holding her stomach and tears welling out.

The burn is real and salt is applied on the wound.

"Shut up." Kirche instantly snaps coldly (ironic since her element is Fire) at him and Louise manage to calm herself down, not without putting down a grin.

"I summoned a familiar yesterday, too. Unlike a certain somebody, I was successful on my first try."

"Really?"

"And, if you're going to have a familiar, it should be a good one, like this. Flame!"

Kirche called her familiar triumphantly. From her room, the salamander that Ragna saw yesterday in the class slithered out. The creature was at least as big as a tiger. Its tail was tipped with flame, and its mouth emitted sparks and embers.

"Huh, so that over-sized lizard is your familiar?"

Kirche smiled.

"Ohoho! Don't tell me this is your first time seeing a fire lizard?"

Ragna shrugged, as if unimpressed at all.

"Yeah, but I've seen weirder, much more terrifying and amazing shit in my life before in my life."

What can he say other than that? He was trained by a humanoid cat and stand up against 4 other people whom are considered as the one of the strongest living being in human history. Fend off and temporally stopped the Black Beast, a creature that is capable of dooming the humanity and even survive the onslaught of the God of Destruction. Really, what is a salamander compare to these people? It's like comparing an ant to a giant.

Somehow he feels like a certain vampire is rubbing him off.

"Really? Then mine tell this fair over here lady what... adventures you have been?" Kirche asked the grim reaper, also hinting about something else of course.

Ragna raised an eye brown while staring at her, seemingly not catching the hidden meaning by how the redhead phrases 'adventure' "Why should I tell you? You won't get what I said anyway, and I don't have time for telling a bed-time story so back off."

Kirche only smiled calmly at his statement.

"Oh well, its worth a try. And what's your name?"

"Ragna."

"Ragna? That's all?" she frowns at that name.

"Yes."

Seeing there nothing more to talk about, Kirche decides to leave.

"Well then, I'll be off now."

She stroked her flaming red hair back and dashed off. The salamander followed her with a cute shuffling movement that looked odd with such a large creature.

As she disappeared, Louise shook a fist in her direction.

"Ooh, that girl gets on my nerves! Just because she summoned a salamander from the Fire Dragon Mountains! Argh!"

"Calm down, Louise. Plus, you got me."

Louise turns to Ragna and smile.

"Yeah, you're right about that. She doesn't know how good you are."

That suddenly got her an idea for their 'anti-rumor' plan.

"I know, we can use this to our advantage!"

"The unknown factor right?"

"Yup."

Ragna smile at her, glad that she use what he taught her into use.

"Alright, now lets go get breakfast." They begin their way to the dining hall.

* * *

Location: Dining Hall

The Academy of Magic's dining hall was the tallest and center most building on the premises. Inside, three extremely long tables were arranged parallel to each other. Each one looked like it could easily seat a hundred people. The table at which Louise and all the second years sat was the middle table.

Ragna expects the dining hall to be magnificent but to see it up close and personal is definitely different. He wondered did the Academy got so much funding that they think they might as well make this place look this good.

It appeared that students could be identified by the color of their cloaks. Viewed from the entrance, everyone sitting on the left-hand table looked a little older and wore purple cloaks — third years.

The students sitting on the right-hand table wore brown cloaks — first years.

' _Just_ _like Louise said before, they're year-level jerseys_ ' Ragna thought.

Every single mage on the school grounds, students and teachers alike, gathered here for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

On an upper level, he could see teachers enjoying pleasant chatter.

All the tables were magnificently decorated.

Numerous candles, bunches of flowers, baskets full of fruit...

Now he think about it...

"Hey Louise."

"What Ragna?"

"What's the name of this dining hall again?"

" Alvíss Dining Hall."

"Right... Hey, what's an 'Alvíss'?"

"It's the name for the little people. See all those statues over there?"

Where she pointed, lined along the walls were elaborate sculptures of small people.

"They're well-made. Err, those things don't... like... come alive during the night or anything, do they?"

"Oh, you knew that?"

"So they do?! Oh shit, I'm not gonna come here at night!"

Louise sweat drop on that muttering "I guess so..."

"Mind pulling out my chair Ragna?"

 _'Normally I wouldn't do that but oh well, it won't hurt doing it.'_ Ragna pulled Louise's chair out for her.

Louise thank him as she sat down. Ragna also brought over a chair to sit on.

Ragna stared at the food, thinking this is ridiculous! It was far too grand for a breakfast. A huge roasted chicken taunted Ragna. Other than that, there was also wine and a pie baked in the shape of a trout. He would prefer a loaf of bread or maybe a bowl of noodle.

"What the hell Louise? This is what you guys have every morning?!" He prodded Louise's shoulder while pointing the food, only to find her look at him nervously.

"What?" Ragna asked dubiously. He saw her pointing at something and he followed where Louise is pointing her finger.

And pointed to the floor, where a bowl had been placed.

"It's a bowl."

"Yes. It is."

"That's my breakfast?"

Louise stared down to her skirt and spoke.

"Everything is too sudden, I didn't do this on purpose."

Ragna just shrugs it off, since he has gone through the possible situation before.

Thus, Ragna found himself sitting on the floor, eating what is in the bowl. In it were some sorry-looking scraps of meat floating around in a thin soup. On the edge was half a loaf of hard-looking bread.

He don't mind really, at least the food can fill his stomach for awhile.

"Oh, Great Founder Brimir, and our lady, the Queen, we thank you for this humble meal that you have graciously provided us this morning," the harmonious sound of a prayer sounded. Louise joined in as well, closing her eyes.

'Just _how is that a 'humble meal?_ ' Ragna frowned.

' _That's more than a banquet. If anyone's got a 'humble meal,' it'd be me._ ' He really don't like this.

' ***sigh*** _Whatever, I'm sure she will fix this situation later the day_ '

* * *

Location: Library

Mister Colbert, a teacher who had dedicated twenty years to Tristain Magic Academy, was by now a mainstay figure.

His Runic name was "Colbert the Flame Snake," and, naturally, he was a mage specializing in fire magic.

Since the Springtime Familiar Summoning a few days ago, he'd been concerned about the commoner man that Louise had summoned. Or more precisely, he'd been concerned with nothing but the runes that had appeared on that man's left hand. They were rare runes indeed, so for the last few nights, he'd confined himself to the library and had been researching various texts.

Tristain Magic Academy's library was located in the same tower as the dining hall. The bookshelves were unbelievably tall, about thirty mails in height, and the way they were lined up against the walls was a spectacle to behold. And rightly so, since this place was crammed with the history of everything following the creation of the new world in Halkeginia by the Founder Brimir.

Colbert was now in a section called "Fenrir's Library" that only teachers were allowed entry to.

The ordinary bookshelves, to which students had free access, didn't hold any answers that could satisfy him.

He Levitated up to an out-of-reach shelf and scanned it intently for a particular book. His efforts were rewarded as his gaze fell upon the title of the book. It was a very old text which held descriptions of the familiars that had been used by the Founder Brimir.

His attention was focused on one particular paragraph written in it, and as he read on in fascination, his eyes grew wide. He compared the book with the sketch he'd made of the runes on the man's left hand.

"Ah!" he gasped in surprise. At that moment, he lost the concentration necessary for maintaining his Levitation and almost fell to the floor.

Holding the book in his arms, he hurriedly descended to the floor and ran out of the library.

His destination was the Headmaster's Office.

* * *

Location: Headmaster's Office

The Headmaster's Office was located on the topmost floor of the tower. Sir Osmond, the current Headmaster of Tristain Magic Academy, was sitting with his elbows propped on his elegantly built Sequoia desk, looking unbearably bored as he shook his white beard and hair.

Idly plucking out nose hairs, he slowly murmured "hrm" and pulled open a desk drawer. From inside he procured a smoking pipe. Miss Longueville, the secretary who had been writing something at the other desk placed to the side of the room, waved her feather quill.

The pipe floated into the air and landed in Miss Longueville's palm. Sir Osmond muttered dejectedly, "Is it fun taking away an old man's little pleasures? Miss, um..."

"Managing your health is also part of my job, Old Osmond." she glared at him.

Sir Osmond stood up from his chair and walked up to the cool and collected Miss Longueville. Stopping behind the seated lady, he closed his eyes, his expression grave.

"If the days keep passing by so peacefully, figuring out how to spend time is going to become a rather big problem."

The wrinkles etched deeply on Osmond's face were only hints to the history of his life. People guessed him to be a hundred years old, even three hundred. But his true age no one really knew. It's possible he himself didn't remember anymore either.

"Old Osmond," Miss Longueville spoke up without taking her eyes off the feather quill that was scribbling away on the parchment.

"What is it? Miss..."

"Please stop saying you have nothing to do as an excuse to touch my bottom."

Sir Osmond opened his mouth slightly and began walking around in tottering steps.

"Please also refrain from pretending to be senile whenever a situation goes bad," Longueville added calmly.

Sir Osmond sighed deeply. It was the sigh of a man bearing the weight of many troubles.

"Where do you think the ultimate truth may be? Haven't you ever wondered that? Miss..."

"Wherever it is, I assure you, it's not underneath my skirt, so please stop sneaking your mouse under the desk."

Sir Osmond's face fell, and he murmured sadly, "Mótsognir."

From under Miss Longueville's desk scurried out a little mouse. It dashed up Osmond's leg and perched on his shoulder, twitching its tiny head. He fished out some nuts from a pocket and held one out to the mouse.

"Chuchu," the mouse chittered, apparently pleased.

"You're my only truly trustworthy friend, Mótsognir."

The mouse began nibbling on the nut. It disappeared quickly, and the mouse chittered "chuchu" once more.

"Ah, yes, yes. Do you want more? Very well, I shall give you more. But first, I would ask that you report back, Mótsognir."

"Chuchu"

"I see. White and plain white too, hrm. But Miss Longueville should really stick to black. Wouldn't you agree, my cute Mótsognir?"

Miss Longueville's eyebrows twitched.

"Old Osmond."

"What is it?"

"The next time you do that, I'm reporting it to the palace."

"Kah! Do you think I could be Headmaster of this Academy if I was scared of the palace all the time?!"

He flashed his eyes wide and yelled angrily. It was an impressive display, completely unexpected of a frail-looking old man.

"Don't get all prissy just because I peeked at your underwear! At this rate, you'll never get married! Haa~~ To be young again~~ Miss..."

Old Osmond began stroking Miss Longueville's bottom without hesitation.

Miss Longueville stood up and wordlessly kicked her boss around.

"Sorry. Stop. Ow. I won't do it anymore. Really."

Old Osmond covered his head and cowered. Miss Longueville breathed heavily as she continued kicking Osmond.

"Ack! How can you! Treat a senior! In this way! Hey! Ouch!"

This "peaceful" moment was interrupted by a sudden intrusion.

The door was thrown open with a slam, and Colbert rushed inside.

"Old Osmond!"

"What is it?"

Miss Longueville was back at her desk, sitting there as if nothing had happened. Sir Osmond had his arms behind him and turned to face the visitor with a serious expression. That was certainly a quick recovery.

"I-I-I have some big news!"

"There is no such thing as big news. Everything is but a collection of small events."

"P-P-Please take a look at this!"

Colbert handed Osmond the book he had been reading just before.

"This is "The Familiars of the Founder Brimir," is it not? Are you still going around digging up old literature like this? If you have time to do that, why don't you think up some better ways of collecting school fees from those slack nobles? Mister, err... What was it again?"

Sir Osmond cocked his head.

"It's Colbert! You forgot?!"

"Right, right. Now I remember. It's just that you talked so fast I never really caught it. So, Colby, what is it about this book?"

"Please take a look at this also!"

Colbert then handed him the sketch of the runes on Ragna's left hand.

The moment he saw that, Osmond's expression changed. His eyes took on a solemn light.

"Miss Longueville, would you please excuse us?"

Miss Longueville stood up and left the room. Osmond spoke only after he confirmed she was properly outside.

"Explain this to me with every detail, Mister Colbert..."

* * *

Location: Hallway

 _'Welp shit, now I'm seriously starving_ ' Ragna though as he walk through the empty hallway while waiting for Louise's class to end.

He continue to wander around until he heard a voice.

"Is something the matter?"

He turned around to see a normal-looking girl with a hint of Asain feature he often sees around in Kagatsuchi. She is in a western maid's outfit carrying a big silver tray, looking concernedly at him. Her black hair was neatly adorned with a headband, and her freckles were cute.

"It's nothing..." Ragna waved his left hand.

"Are you by any chance the one who became Miss Vallière's familiar...?"

It seemed she noticed the runes inscribed on Ragna's left hand.

"You know me?" Now that is interesting.

"A little. It's become quite a rumor, you know, that a commoner was called by the summoning magic."

The girl smiled sweetly.

"I see... words sure travel by the speed of light."

"Speed of light?" the girl questioned with a slight tilt on her head.

"Nothing. Well, I'm Ragna."

"I'm Siesta. Nice to meet you Mister Ragna."

"No need for the mister, I'm cool with Ragna."

"Ragna it is then."

At that point, Ragna's stomach grumbled.

"You must be hungry."

"Yeah... Sucks to be me huh."

"Please follow me this way."

"To where?" Ragna followed behind her.

Without replying, Siesta walked off.

* * *

Location: Kitchen

Ragna was led to the kitchen located at the rear of the dining hall. Lots of large pots and ovens were lined up inside. Cooks and other maids like Siesta were busily preparing food.

"Please wait one moment, okay?"

Siesta had Ragna sit on a chair placed in the corner of the kitchen and disappeared hastily into the back.

She soon returned with a bowl full of warm stew in her hands.

"This is some stew made from the leftovers of the nobles' meals. If you don't mind, please eat this."

"You sure?" Ragna arched an eyebrow.

"Yes. It's only the staff meal though..." Siesta said the last part with slight regret.

"Well, if you say so." Ragna scoop up a spoonful of the stew put it into his mouth. As soon as the food entered into his mouth, he widen his eye.

"THIS IS FREAKING GOOD!" he exclaimed, surprising Siesta.

"Y-you like this?"

"I never tasted anything good like thing for a seriously long time! Not even I can cook up something this good!" Ragna smile and turn his head to Siesta.

"You sure this is the leftovers? I gonna give props to whoever made this."

"It's the head chef the one who cook it. I will give your thanks to him later."

Ragna continue to wolf down the stew, unintentionally ignore Siesta. Seriously, it's just too damn good to be called leftover. Those kids eating these things every day are really lucky, not everyone can have these for their meal.

"Did you not have anything just now Ragna?"

"Oh no. I have my breakfast but I guess that's not enough for me. Now I just have to wait for Louise to ask the kitchen staff to get me some of this good stuff." Ragna explained.

As soon as Ragna finish the stew, he held out his bowl.

"Second one."

* * *

A/N

Ughhhhhh, kill me if you guys want to...

Yeah about the nightmare at the beginning... Yeah, I'm not exactly subtle about the identity of that mysterious person, any Blazblue fans will who is it.

Also, as you can see, the familiar bond has taken it's effect on Ragna already. How far will it go? Only future chapters can tell.

Anyway, I AM SO SORRY! This chapter was delayed for FAR too long! I'm so sorry and thank you for waiting for an update to this story.

I'm not going you guys any excuse, I was very lazy ever since the last update. I tried to write before but I always end up spending more time playing TF2 and Unturned with my friend, leaving me with only about half and hour or so to write, and I still HAVE my first story, 'Gears of Fate: Zero no Yosei', to rewrite.

Worse, my exam is around the corner, so I have to study my ass off if I really want decent grades.

So again, I am very sorry to you guys wait for an update for so long.

I know I should have said this even in the prologue chapter, but my English... isn't so good. English is my second language and I tend to switch my grammar between American and British ones since I've attended to schools that use either one of them. Don't worry, I'm adjusting to the American English right now, so please give me time work on it.

Anyway, onto the review.

marconator360: Yeah, our favorite Grim Reaper's new life is going to be quite the ride, I have been brainstorming ideas and how the story will go with my brother quite a while already. How will people react when he go full badass mode? You'll see. Thanks for the little tip by the way, even though I already know.

v3yah: The divergent chapter will be coming soon, possibly after Guiche get his ass handed by Ragna. About being fast paced, well I guess you can say that. But then this is only volume 1 of the LN and there is still 21 more volumes to go so it's not quite accurate I guess.

Shirosaki Kizuro: Here ya go, it's here, but it's the same as the LN sorry to disappoint you.

ZERO PEACE: This is gonna be a long one... Your review's good for me, I just need to see what's your opinion. Firstly, I might do some small explanation here and there some time if there is an opportunity. As for grammar, I'm sure you see it around the beginning of the AN. As for Louise, her being tsundere will be nearly non-existent since I made Ragna and Louise being familiar with each other for a long time. As for kissing, this will be the only time they will do it since I have no intention of putting them into a romantic relationship. I just want them to have something like a sibling relationship.

Kotano-chan: Sorry about calling you Kotona. Also...about the shipping. ***smirks*** Keikaku doori.

Kamencolin: Thanks.

And that's all.

Good night


	5. Chapter 4

Disclaimer*

I do not own Familiar of Zero and Blazblue. They belong to their respective creators and publishers.

Without further ado. Let's begin.

Also here are the speech text types.

Normal-Hi

Thoughts- _Hi_

* * *

 _Location: Outside_

"I've never been into Western tea but this taste good," Ragna stated after sipping the cup of tea on his hand.

Both Ragna and Louise are sitting down enjoying their tea prepared by Siesta. They ignore the curious gaze towards them, only react to them when necessary.

"So, what do you want to talk about Louise?" Ragna asked.

"Hmm... Maybe something about your world?"

"Sure, I'll try to keep it short with necessary information." He's well versed in his world anyway, so there's no problem even if a small amount of information are missing.

"I guess I'll start with common knowledge of my world. The place where I came from was called The 13 Hierarchical City. Cities that was built after a war known as The Dark War, which we will talk about it sometime later. Anyways, even though it's called 13 Hierarchical City there are 23 hierarchical cities if I remember correctly. The highest placed Hierarchical City is the first, the lower it is, the higher the number of the city. In each hierarchy are many cities, towns, villages. The upper level contains the **Novus Orbis Librarium** , also known as **NOL** , branch office. The higher layers are reserved for the wealthy, NOL personnel, and collaborators. While the poor, refugees and other indigenous races live in the lower layers."

"By our terms, the 1st city will be for those strong and wealthy nobles while the 23rd city will be for those poor commoners?"

"Yes, but it is impossible to live at the 23rd because of a harmful magical element that can kill anyone in contact with it."

"That element... you mean Seithr right? The residual of the Black Beast, the stuff that empowers magic and what created _that power_ right?"

"Yeah... Continuing, people travel city to city by aircraft, which are monitored by NOL, again."

"Is this "En Ol El" have that much influence?"

"Oh trust me, they're pretty much a ruling party besides another organization called Sector 7. Although there is some exception like Ikaruga Federation cities, as they're so close to each other that people can travel between them by trains safely."

"I see. So do you mi-" before Louise can ask another question, a feminine shouting can be heard.

"You liar!"

Ragna and Louise turn to the source of the shouting. It seems a commotion is happening, and a girl just stormed off. He could see a boy who has curly blonde hair, wore a frill-trimmed shirt, and looked rather self-important. There was a rose stuck in his shirt pocket too. The aura he emitted reminds Ragna of Kagura the Black Knight. Though the Black Knight some serious power to back him up. Go mano a mano on a monster in a human skin that even Ragna has trouble to fight against is quite the feat. Then again, the grim reaper was crippled at the time to begin with. That boy, however, is weak as all hell.

The boy pulled out a handkerchief and slowly wiped his face. Shaking his head, he spoke dramatically.

"It would seem those ladies do not understand the meaning of a rose's existence."

' _Yeah, and you just keep trying_ _that. Even Kagura can do a better job than you_ ' Ragna thought.

Ragna is going to continue his answering until he heard something that caught his attention.

"You, maid over there!" the said while pointing his rose towards Siesta, who is frozen stiff.

"Y-yes?"

"If not because of you, the heart of those two ladies are broken!"

' _Utter BULLSHIT!_ ' both Ragna and Louise thought together.

"I-I'm sorry Guiche-sama but I'm afraid I don't know what did I do wrong. All I did is answering a question by another noble that is all." Siesta said fearfully.

"Hmph, I don't trust your words. Very well, since you do not admit your fault I shall punish you. Your punishment will be... death!"

The boy, Guiche, make a quick chant and a large pillar rises out from the ground. He swings his rose and points it to Siesta.

Siesta, on the other hand, fall on her knees, eyes closed and tears leaking, waiting for the pillar fall on her, taking her life away.

The pillar crashed and dust formed. The dust slowly disappears and Guiche watches, expecting a splat of blood on the ground.

Surprisingly, there's no blood on the ground. There's not even a trace of the maid. Guiche look around and found her safe. She was caught by Ragna on the waist at the very last second. Siesta opens her eyes and shock by what she see. Ragna and **Louise** glaring at Guiche. She knows Ragna might be angry at Guiche since he is a commoner but Louise? That is unexpected!

"What. The. Fuck are you thinking Guiche?! You almost killed an innocent!" Louise shouts at Guiche with venom in her voice.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY ZERO?!" Guiche retorted.

"You fuck this up and you put the blame on her?! A maid who only follow us noble's instruction?! Yeah if they did something wrong we can punish them but that doesn't mean we can just kill them! We. Are. Not. Gods! Guiche, we don't decide whether commoners dies or not!" Louise said.

Really, sometimes Louise hated the nobles. While she is a noble, she isn't like most of them. She knew she was stubborn, but not a pompous ass who can't even try to solve the problem by them self without crying like a little bitch. She admitted she was like them once, but she learned the hard way. But not through Ragna.

"It seems you got lead astray from you noble ways Zero. Why do you even bother protecting her anyways?"

 _'THAT'S IT! THIS POMPOUS ASS IS GETTING ON MY NERVES!'_ Louise thought angrily and clenched her teeth and hand until the hand turns white.

She wanted to punch this asshole, she really wants to just walk up to Guiche and just give him a single, strong, knockout punch to him.

Just when Louise walk a single step, Ragna took a step ahead of her and walked up to Guiche. Because he is taller than Guiche it looks like Ragna is a large beast looming over his prey. Guiche looked at him and raised his eyebrow, before he was instantly hit by a fist across his right cheek, sent him flying across the courtyard.

Several people gasped at the sight, including the maid herself. The fact that a commoner- no, a familiar, punched a noble was something they never expect at all.

"W-Wha- How DARE you punch a noble, you lowly familiar! Looks like you really are the Zero's dog!" Guiche spat at him while he holds his right cheek with his right hand.

"Like I give a shit." Ragna calmly said, completely unfazed by the blond's glare. "You fuck this up, you take the responsibility. Hell, don't even start going out with two girls to begin with, idiot."

Guiche gritted his teeth. How dare the lowly familiar insult him and punched him! He can choose what he want to do with that commoner maid and whether or not which girl should he go out with! He is a noble! He needs to teach them a lesson. But how? The academy doesn't allow duels between mages. Wait...

Guiche widens his eyes, then grinned. Ragna and Louise saw the changes in his expression and don't like where this is going.

"If you truly want to protect that maid, then how about this. I challenge your Familiar to a duel!" Guiche declared

The crowd gasped by that declaration. The academy has forbid duels and now he's using a loophole?! How much does he want to kill that maid anyway?

"You want blood so much?! Fine then you little piece of shit. We're doing this RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!" Ragna responded angrily.

"So you accept. Then we will meet at Vestri Court. Half and hour." Guiche walks off before Ragna even register what Guiche said. Everyone, excited for the duel, followed him.

Ragna gritted his teeth and clench his hands. His eyes look like he is out for Guiche's blood.

Siesta gazed at Ragna, her entire body quivering.

"You... You're going to get killed." Siesta said fearfully.

Louise knelt beside Siesta and put her hand on Siesta's shoulder.

"Don't worry maid. He won't die, his too stubborn to just kick the bucket. Even if he die, he just gonna come back from the grave and continue to kick people's asses." Louise said in a serious tone.

Well, that is half true, but there was no reason to tell her more information than necessary.

"B-but"

"What's your name maid?"

Siesta froze for a while and quickly recovers, fearing that her silence might offend Louise.

"S-Siesta Miss Valliere."

"Siesta, once this shit is dealt with I think I will have you as mine."

Siesta blushed after hearing that declaration. Noticing her embarrassment, she also blushes.

"D-don't take it in the wrong context Siesta. I mean I just want you to be my personal maid that's all!"

Siesta only nod. Louise removes her hand and stands up. She glanced at Ragna and begun to walk, gesturing both Ragna and Siesta to follow her.

"I'll bring you to the Court. After that, go kick his sorry ass."

Ragna show a feral grin when he heard that statement. Siesta, on the other hand, couldn't fathom Louise's confidence.

"Now you're speaking my language, pinkie. C'mon, shown me where can I kick that Blondie's ass!"

* * *

 _Location: Vestri Court_

By the time Ragna and Louise arrived, the court is fully packed. A murmur can be heard among the crowd, all of them talking about the duel between a commoner familiar and Guiche.

"First of all, I commend you for coming here instead of running away!" Guiche remarked in a sing-song voice, as he twirled his rose.

"Like anyone would run away bitch!"

"Right then, let us begin," said Guiche.

Guiche immediately flicks his rose, a petal floated down to the ground. When the petal hit the ground, an armor-clad shape of a female warrior appeared.

Ragna arch an eyebrow upon seeing it.

"The hell is that?"

"I am a mage, therefore I fight using magic. Surely you have no complaints? Oh yes, I almost forgot. My Runic name is ' **the Bronze** ', Guiche the Bronze. Accordingly, my bronze golem "Valkyrie" shall be your real opponent."

Ragna didn't care about it. In fact, he felt like he's just wasted his time. So he dashes forward, beginning the 'massacre'.

Ragna appeared in front of the golem in a second, perform a left hook, knocking the helmet off the armor, then follow it up with a right uppercut into the abdomen.

The golem shattered into armor pieces with the body piece having a fist-shaped dent.

Guiche and the crowd became shocked by Ragna's performance. They expect a one-sided massacre but the commoner here just destroy a golem like nothing. Among the crowd, Louise just smirks while Siesta just stare.

"That's all you got kid?" Ragna taunted.

Guiche's face turns crimson red as he was angered. He gritted his teeth to not scream as he swing his rose once more, summoning more Valkyrie and they all holds a sword on their right hand and a shield on the other. The Valkyrie squad surround Ragna in a circle and put themselves into a ready stance.

One dashed forward, swing its weapon in an attempt to cleave its target. Ragna side-step to the left and punch the living armor on the back with his right hand. The armor collides with another one, shattering both of them.

' _Three more_ ' Ragna thought as he surveyed his surrounding. One on his left, another in front and last one might be at his back.

' _I think that's enough dilly dally. Let's end this!_ '

All the remaining Valkyrie rush towards him, flanking him on all sides. Ragna dodges all of them, causing them to collide together. He clench his fist, feeling some sort of energy clump together and his hand engulfed by darkness, dash forward towards the group of armors while yelling ' **Hell's Fang** ' on the way, then follow up by swing-claws forward his following arm and strikes the opponent with dark energy in the shape of one of a beast's heads that bites forward.

One of the armor parts hit Guiche, making him fall on his back and hit the ground. Ragna immediately runs towards the earth mage and pick him up off the ground.

"This will hurt!" Ragna said and punch Guiche in the gut, sending him flying all the way to the school's wall and fall off the ground.

Guiche groaned on the ground. He couldn't believe it! He is a noble, how can a mere familiar- ZERO's familiar- had defeated him!

"That was too easy." The grim reaper said and turn to the crowd. All of them were either gawking at the sight (including Siesta) because he defeated a "noble", or they were whispering with each other. Ragna could hear what some of them were saying, ranging from 'What just happen?' to 'No way... he's just a mere commoner... how?'.

Ragna sighed. He hated this kind of attention; it is still better than people looking at him with nothing but fear, scorn, and hate, but this kind of attention annoys him.

Louise on the other hand just smirked at the scene. She was satisfied. Indeed, she was not the one that taught that pompous blond ass a lesson. But since people said that familiars are a part of a mage, does that means she technically taught him a lesson? Oh well, no need to about it right now, that idiot got what he deserved.

"All right! What is causing this commotion?!" Suddenly, a man's voice shouted from the crowd. Everyone immediately turned back and saw Colbert and Osmond slowly descending to the courtyard since they used levitate spell.

"I-It's Guiche, Headmaster!" one of the student in the crowd shouted. "H-He was defeated by Zero's familiar!" The student continued and pointed his finger at where Guiche was lying at.

Ragna thought that the teacher and the headmaster should be surprised by the student's word. Instead of looking surprised, they seem to be calm. Either they knew about the duel (Really, can you call a one-sided battle a fight?) or they were really good at hiding their emotion.

Ragna narrowed his eyes. If it is the former, then why didn't they stopped the fight before it happened? Do they have any ulterior motive behind such action or there were other reasons?

"Then why are all of you standing here? Quickly help Mr. Gramont up and bring him to the infirmary and get the water mage to tend his wound." The bald teacher said, which broke Ragna out of his mind. Then the teacher turns his eyes towards Louise and the maid, "Ms. Valliere, please come to the headmaster's office with your familiar and the maid immediately." With that, both the teacher and the headmaster levitated up to the air and everyone started to disperse, walking to their own destination. Two students remained behind to carry Guiche to the infirmary. The students happen to be both Montmorency and Katie, despite the fact they are still angry at him.

"So much for not making any trouble huh?" Ragna said while walking towards Louise and the maid.

"Yeah, so much for that." the pinkett chuckled, "Still though, at least that asshole got his ass kicked. Good job there Ragna."

"Meh, he wasn't even that hard to deal with." Ragna shrugged and started walking. When he walked a few steps forward, he noticed that the girls were not moving and give him a 'Where are you going' look. "Why the hell are you still standing there, aren't we suppose to go to the whoever's office?"

Hearing that, both girls immediately started to walk towards to the grim reaper. Louise took the lead (since Ragna still didn't know the layout of the academy) and they begin walking to the headmaster's office.

* * *

 _Location: Headmaster's office_

In both the teacher and headmaster's honest opinion about the familiar, he is simply that powerful. Yes, while Guiche was considered a weak opponent for him, the fact that Ragna managed to take him down without breaking a sweat is quite a feat for 'normal' commoners. They can tell Ragna has been into a lot of fights and he is well trained. So they assume Ragna was once served the military or he worked in jobs that require such skills (little did they know Ragna was an SS-class criminal with a bounty of $90 million). There is also the fact that he manage to summon some sort of dark energy from his arm but they decide to tackle the mystery later.

They heard the office door being knocked, indicating the ones they called for have arrived. Longueville went and open the door to greet them.

Louise and her group thank Longueville and proceed into the room. They line up horizontally, Louise in the middle, Ragna on the right and Siesta on the left.

Osmond surveyed around the room, nodding his head when he confirmed everyone arrived.

"* **ahem** * I think I should introduce myself to your familiar first before we start Ms. Valliere. I am Osmond, or you may call me Old Osmond as all of the students in this academy called me."

Louise immediately becomes stiff and make a small 'epp'.

"Now, please tell me what happened back at Vestri Court. I would like to have every detail of the event."

Louise begins to explain to Osmond what transpired back there. She spends 7 minutes on explaining, leaving out the vulgar language.

Osmond closes his eyes and stroke his beard as he contemplating what Louise said. Osmond opened his eyes when he stops stroking it.

"I see. If none of you have any question please leave."

"Please wait. I have something to ask." Louise quickly said, causing Osmond arch an eyebrow.

"If possible, I want Siesta to be my personal maid." Louise points her index finger towards Siesta. Siesta immediately become surprised by that proposal, staring at Louise as if she had grown a second head.

"I see what I can do. Longueville, please prepare the paperwork. If that is all please leave." Osmond agreed.

Ragna felt like asking something on his mind. But decide against it since they would most likely lie their way through.

After they leave the office, Ragna caught Kirche and Tabitha waiting for them outside. Kirche wave at them while smiling.

"So Zero. What did Old Osmond give you as a punishment since a familiar is an extension of a mage?" Kirche grinned at Louise, expecting her to react violently. Instead of doing that, however, Louise merely looked at Kirche with disinterest and turn around.

"Nothing really. He just asked what happened. Also, he knows we called by that nickname."

As soon as Louise said her piece, she and her group begin to walk away, missing Kirche is gawking at her.

* * *

 _Location: Hallway_

Louise and her group walked in silence, which Ragna enjoyed as he looks around the school ground, memorizing all of the details. For Siesta, however, she felt was awkward. She tried to say something, but every time she tried to open her mouth she shut it immediately. When they near the Servant Quarter, Siesta tried to excuse herself.

"Wait, Siesta," Louise called her out.

"Yes, Miss? Is there something you need?"

Louise crossed her arms and narrow her eyes which cause Siesta to flinch slightly, which only Ragna manage to catch.

"You have something on your mind didn't you?"

Siesta stay silent for a moment, fidgeting while staring at the ground. Louise slowly becomes impatient as time goes. Just when Louise about to lose her patience Siesta speaks out.

"Ms. Valliere. Why did you choose me as your personal maid? Also, about what you said back there... about how all the nobles are gods... are you serious about it?"

Louise blinks her eyes a few time before starting to chuckle. She manages to recover quickly and begin her explanation.

"That's because you caught my interest. You worked harder than most servants here, you're kind and I really think I could use a personnel like you."

Siesta become surprised by her answer since she expects Louise to know her circumstances and pity her. But from what she heard, Louise only wants to have the best for herself. Somewhat selfish of Louise yes but at least Louise was not hiring her for Siesta's rather... let's not talk about that.

"As for what I said back there, I'm serious about it. To me, we're just feeble humans who can die at any moment. It can be now, later or tomorrow. Even the very wise cannot see all ends. So, do you want to serve me now?"

Siesta stare at Louise. The moment felt like years as Siesta try to comprehend what Louise just said. She felt her 'master' was either being realistic or just trying to be mature beyond her age.

"Yes, I will. From here on out I shall serve you well, Mistress," Siesta just smile at Louise and make a small bow.

Louise and Ragna also smile, happy that she agreed to it.

"Well then, I will take my leave now," Siesta bowed once again and head back to her quarter.

* * *

 _Location: Louise's room_

As soon as both of them entered the room, Louise, flop herself on her bed, not caring her surrounding. She felt tired, both mentally and physically after all the event that happened.

"Forget about changing my clothes, I'm too tired." Louise said tiredly, head lying side way on the bed.

Ragna walked towards the pile of hay and sit down, leaning against the wall.

"Yeah, no shit. Guess we have to wait for tomorrow to continue on our alibi." the grim reaper said to her.

"Oh yeah, the alibi... guess we have to wait huh?"

The master-familiar duo stayed silent for a few minutes until Louise said something to Ragna.

"Hey Ragna," Louise said. "tomorrow is the void day, so we don't have classes. Maybe we can go to the town."

Ragna glanced towards her and blinked twice. Now that he think about it, he had not gone anywhere aside from the academy itself. Then again this is his second day in this world to begin with.

But that still begs the question "Why do we need go there?" Ragna asked.

"I'll tell you tomorrow, sorry but good night." Louise said before she snapped her finger, letting the glow of the lamp to die out and cover herself with a blanket.

 _'Guess I'll have to find out tomorrow.'_ Ragna thought before he gave into his slumber once more.

* * *

A/N

And done!

Sorry if the last part is less than stellar. But I need to finish this chapter before my school starts back next week. Also been busy practicing Naoto (he's giving me arthritis) and Mai (she's making me question myself why I like gender bend) in CentralFiction.

As some of you who are very familiar with the anime/light novel, I have started to divert some of the events already. So yeah, no Kirche trying to get Ragna to bed.

As you can see during the duel, I pretty much make Ragna kind of OP. Well let's face it, Guiche is very weak as stated by Ragna's opinion.

Also, for the part where Ragna explain about The Hierarchical City, I just want to do some refresher for Blazblue readers and probably give new readers some information about Blazblue world.

Alright, on to the reviews.

N3Ber1us: Well you have to find out in the future chapter, can't give you guys spoiler.

Saberfang Orcalodon: Thanks, but right now about 4-5k is our quota, I and Mechadragon99 have a really tight real life schedule.

Kotano-chan: Thanks for being interested in this fic. To be honest I thought this fic will on have very few people review and even follow. Now there are 47 favs and 50 follows (really need to thank you all who did it.) True, I kind of went overboard. With how you interact with 'him', it causes me to misunderstand things. Anyhow, thanks for supporting this fic (too bad my first fic doesn't get much attention, then again it's horrible, to begin with).

Masterx01: This is gonna be a long one. About grammar, yes I do notice them, I'm working on it, and I'm improving it. About usage of past tense, I agree with you but for some reason, I feel like it's weird to be 100% past tense with every word. Your advice about the developing the relationship, I'll see what I can do to improvise in the near future. Most likely through flashback or interaction between characters. Now do keep in mind Louise and Ragna knows each other for 11 years, so her not being abrasive tsundere is my only choice. Ragna being in-character is because I'm still not getting a full grasp of how Ragna is going interact with someone who he knows, teach and care for 11 years. I can make him act like Jubei but that is just poor decision making.

Oh ya, the salamander part, I should have it change by now, you can check chapter 3 to see the minor change. And yes, divergence is already coming, albeit a small one at first. It will become more apparent as the story goes on, but I can't guarantee that the story will fully diverge from canon right now since this story will mostly base on the canon story line.

Anyway, that's all. Also, is it just me or Nine is very broken in NetPlay?


	6. Announcement

Quick announcement:

Yes, I'm still alive.

Yes, the story will continue, but I don't know when will I be able to post the next chapter.

Both me and Mechadragon99 haven't been updating lately because we are very busy preparing for our finals three months later.

I'm sorry guys, but please be a bit more patient with the update. The next chapter is in progress but I can't promise that I will be able to update it by next month but I'll try my best.

Anyway, I know it's kinda strange right now but on to the reviews.

 **Dread Grim Reaper: Let me just say this right away. *Deep breath* Yeaaaahhhhh! Blazblue Crossover game? With P4A, UNIB AND RWBY? SIGN. ME. UP!**

 **SargentFalco: Yeah, I know there are things I can work on, but right now it's not the time. I'm busy and still planning future plotlines.**

 **Guest: I know it's quite cringy. But what can you expect from an amatuer writer. I'm not the best writer around bruh. Also, have I ever mentioned that I'm a romanticizer?**

 **v3yah: Yes it's finally here even though it's minor. As for the reactions, well that's because I litterally forgot to add it in at that time (opps?). Anyway, thanks for pointing that out.**

 **Kotano-chan: Hey Kotano-chan, sorry if this isn't a new chapter. I'll make this quick since I'm in the middle of a lesson now.**

 **So... you always yelling at rivals? Oh god, now I'm hesitant about giving our favorite Raggy a harem. Also, was you throat okay when you watch FoZ at the time?**

 **So, if you wonder why I decide to make Guiche cruel, that is because it was inspired by one of the fic I've read months ago (forgot what's the name but I know it's a crossover). Well, now Guiche finally learn a lesson by having his ass kicked. As for the part where Louise tell Guiche 'We are not gods' and talking to Siesta, I've initially planned for Louise to outright punch him then the pep talk. But after some thinking, I decide to scrap the idea and go for beating the shit out of him.**

 **Oh yeah, do you like songs a lot? If you do try listening a song called 《Stardust Memories》. There are three versions of it but I recommend the Centralfiction version and Place of Promise version. They're very nice songs for relaxing.**

Still, thank you all for favoriting and reviewing this story. It gives me a lot motivation to continue but well, you know what's going on with me right now.

Anyway, sorry for the inconvenience.

Good night.


	7. Chapter 5

Disclaimer*

I do not own Familiar of Zero and Blazblue. They belong to their respective creators and publishers.

Without further ado. Let's begin.

Also here are the speech text types

Normal-Hi

Thoughts- _Hi_

* * *

 _Location: Infirmary_

Guiche, laying on one of the beds in the infirmary, staring at the ceiling of the room. His mind couldn't stop thinking about the duel that happened earlier today, especially the familiar of Zero.

 _"You fuck this up, you take the responsibility."_

Those words won't stop playing in his mind. As he continues to think, he began to grow more frustrated by his loss. How can a commoner defeat him without breaking a sweat? The only way for them to do that is either using underhand tactics like a fake knock out and then attack the mage afterward or by using magical items. Having a commoner, let alone one that seems to not possess any magic item or use underhand tactics, to utterly defeat a mage like him was something he couldn't understand.

He's Guiche de Gramont! The son of General Gramont! A noble! How did he get defeated by a lowly-

Guiche immediately closed his eyes and take a deep breath and exhale.

 _'Calm down, Guiche. Calm down, don't let this go over your head.'_

That's right, he shouldn't let anger cloud his mind right now. All he needs to do now is calm down and find a way get it back to him. His mind clicked, an idea appeared in his mind. Yes, yes, that will do. This will definitely allow him to show that he is far more superior to that commoner.

Guiche's face turns into a grin. He begins to chuckle under his breath, eventually, it devolves into an evil laughter. He continues to laugh, "Ow ow ow, my chest still hurts," he clutches his chest in pain.

* * *

 _Location: Vault entrance_

Standing in-front of Longueville was a pair of enormous iron doors. They were kept shut with a thick bolt mechanism, which in turn was secured with an equally large padlock.

This place was where artifacts dating from even before the Academy's establishment were contained. After cautiously surveying her surroundings, Longueville withdrew her wand from a pocket. It was about the length of a pencil, but with a flick of the wrist, it extended to the length of a conductor's baton, which she whirled expertly to cast a spell.

Once the invocation was complete, she pointed the baton at the padlock.

However... nothing happened.

"Well, it's not like I really expected a Spell of Unbinding to work anyway," she said disappointingly. But not all hope was lost.

Smiling deviously, she began reciting the words to one of her specialty spells.

It was a Transmutation spell. Chanting loud and clear, she waved her baton at the heavy lock. The magic cascaded over it... but even after a considerable wait, there was no visible change.

"Looks like it's been magically reinforced by a Square-class mage," she muttered.

A Spell of Reinforcement was one that prevented the oxidation and decomposition of matter. Any substance that had this spell cast on it was protected from any chemical reactions and allowed it to be preserved forever in that state. Even transmutation magic would have no effect against something protected like this. Only if one's magical skill surpassed that of the mage who cast the spell could it be overcome.

As it was, the mage who had enchanted this door was apparently an extremely powerful mage, considering that not even she, an expert in Earth magic and transmutation, in particular, was able to affect the door.

Taking off her glasses, she stared at the door once more. At this point, she heard footsteps coming up the staircase.

She shrunk down her baton and slipped it back into her pocket.

The person who appeared was Colbert.

"Greetings, Miss Longueville. What are you doing here?"

"Mister Colbert, I was going to catalog the contents of the treasury, but..."

"Oh, that's quite some work. It'd probably take you all day to go over each and every item. There's a lot of junk mixed together with them, and it's a rather cramped space they've been arranged in too."

"Indeed."

"Why don't you just borrow the key from Old Osmond?"

The woman smiled, "Well... I didn't want to disturb his sleep. In any case, I'm in no immediate hurry to complete the catalog..." It was the half truth, she didn't want to get caught by Osmond and be suspected. God knows how wise was he despite his senility and perversion.

"I see. Sleep, you say. That old man, I mean, Old Osmond, is quite a deep sleeper. It seems I shall have to visit him another time."

Mister Colbert began to walk off, but paused in his tracks, and turned around.

"Err... Miss Longueville?"

"Is something the matter?"

Colbert looked slightly embarrassed as he opened his mouth to speak.

"If it would be all right, how would you like to, say... join me for lunch?" Colbert asked rather nervously.

She took a moment to consider, then smiled brightly as she accepted the offer. Having a lunch with a 'fellow colleague' won't hamper her heist anyway.

"Sure, it would be my pleasure."

The two of them headed down the stairs.

"Hey, Mister Colbert." In slightly informal tones, Miss Longueville struck up a conversation again.

"Y-yes? What is it?" Emboldened by how easily his invitation had been taken up, Colbert responded quite eagerly to her.

"Is anything important actually inside the treasury?"

"There is."

"Then, do you know of the ' **Giant Blade of Darkness** '?"

"Ah, that is quite a curiously shaped item, indeed."

Her eyes glinted.

"What... kind of shape?"

"It's extremely difficult to describe, except as simply strange, yes. But never mind that, what would you like to eat? Today's menu is flounder baked in herbs... but I'm quite well-acquainted with Marteau the head chef, and I can have him make any of the world's finest delica-"

"Ahem."

Miss Longueville interrupted Colbert's babbling.

"Y-yes?"

"I must say, the treasury is quite amazingly built. No matter what kind of magic is tried, it would be impossible to open, I assume?"

"That's quite right. It's impossible for just any one mage. After all, it was devised by a group of Square-class mages to resist all spells."

"I'm very impressed that you're so knowledgeable about this, Mister Colbert."

She regarded him with a comfortable expression.

"Eh? Well... Haha, I just happened to come across a lot of documents pertaining to this floor, that's all... I like to consider it a part of my research, haha. Thanks to that, I'm still single at this age... yes."

"I'm sure the woman that you find will be very happy to be with you. After all, you can teach her so much about things that nobody else knows..."

Miss Longueville fixed him with a fascinated look.

"Oh, no! Please don't tease me like that!"

Colbert flustered nervously as he wiped sweat from his balding forehead. Then, regaining composure, he faced her seriously.

"Miss Longueville. Have you heard of the Ball of Frigg that is being held on the day of Yule?"

"No, I haven't."

"Haha, I guess it's because you've only been in Tristain for two months. Well, it's nothing spectacular, just a party of sorts. However, it's said that a couple who dances at this ball will be destined to be together or something like that. It's just a petty legend of course! Yes!"

"So?" She pressed him to continue while smiling.

"So... if it would be all right, I was wondering if you would dance with me, yes."

"I would love to. While ball parties are fabulous, I'd like to know more about the treasury right now. I'm quite fascinated by magical items, you see."

Wanting to further impress Miss Longueville, Colbert racked his brains. _Treasury, treasury, she says..._

Remembering something she might find interesting, he put on an important air and started to talk.

"Ah yes, there's one thing I can tell you. Although it's not particularly important..."

"By all means, do tell."

"Certainly, the treasury is invincible against magical attacks, but I believe it has one fatal weakness."

"Oh, that's intriguing."

"That weakness is a ... physical force."

"Physical force?" Interesting...

"Yes! For example, well, not that this is ever likely, but a giant golem could-"

"A giant golem?"

Colbert stated his opinion quite proudly to Miss Longueville. And once he was done talking, she couldn't help but smile in satisfaction.

"That was most intriguing indeed, Mister Colbert."

Time to plan.

* * *

 _Location:?_

It's dark, the eyes wouldn't open. For a moment it was silent until...

"I see... to be locked away in such a terrible place," a woman's voice, most likely at her early 20's, can be heard.

Then a man's voice can be heard, "She's almost become a lab rat... As for what it was... I'll spare the details," also about his 20's.

"It's okay. I don't need to know it. Besides, it's more important to give her a peaceful life, rather than looking back her dreadful past. In fact, I think it's better to her to forget it... even if it's just a decade."

The man stays silent for a moment, "Can I entrust her to you?" He asked even though he knows the answer.

"Of course, you can entrust them to me."

"I see... well I'll be off," the sound of rustling can be heard, probably because the man is standing up.

"Are you sure you don't need healing anymore?" the woman's tone sound worried.

"These are nothing compared to what I always have. Besides, she's more important right now. It sucks that none of her family is around anymore."

"Don't worry, I'll make sure to raise her like she's my kin."

"I see... I'm a bit worried about that but I'm sure you can do something."

She can feel the man walk towards her, he brushed off a stray hair that was on her face, "Sorry that I can't stay with you even though I promised you. Don't worry, we will meet again. That... I promise."

She can feel her hand manage to get to hold his clothes as if begging him not to go. She slowly opens her eyes. Her eyes were heavy so her vision was blurry. She only recognizes two distinct colors, red and pink.

"Promise?" she asked.

"Yeah... I promise..." The man replied.

* * *

 _Location: Louise's room_

"Louise, Louise? Wake up already," Ragna shakes Louise rather roughly, trying to wake her up. For a moment Louise considered to ignore him but then remember what she said yesterday.

She slowly lifted her upper body up and stretches her arms while yawning, then proceed to rub her eyes to remove the dirt on it. When her vision and mind become clearer, she turns to Ragna whose face is as perpetually angry as always. Oh well, she's used to it anyway.

"Sorry, maybe because of yesterday that I'm still tired. Go outside while I get myself dressed, we got a city to visit anyway."

Ragna nodded and excuse himself. He planned to do that anyway, being a pedophile was the last thing he needs and a certain bitchy brat has already ticked him off. Ragna shut the door behind him and lean himself against the wall. The hallway was busy as always, students moving around minding their own business. Some of the students do make the occasional glance on Ragna, wondering what is he doing in the hallway. But Ragna ignored them, as he is currently deep in thought.

The first thing he immediately thought was that this world has no **Seithr** , or rather the **Seithr** concentration is very low, not to point of unnoticeable, but not as concentrated as his world was.

Secondly, his arms. Normally one would not concern it. But Ragna's arms were supposed to be destroyed. Yet somehow when Ragna took off his gloves during the middle of yesterday's night when he woke up, he noticed that both arms were normal. Instead of an obsidian black colored right arm and a mechanical left arm, it was a pair of normal arms, albeit with a collection of runes on his left hand.

Even though this was something he should have noticed the moment he was landed in this new world, he ended up ignoring it for the past 2 days. ( **A/N More like this is something that both I and MechaDragon99 forgot about and we decided to go ahead and fix this issues before people start asking us.** )

After some time, Louise finally got out of her room. She wears her school uniform like usual. But instead of her usual black shoes, she has a pair of boots.

"Well, I'm ready to go now."

Ragna pushed himself off the wall and proceed to follow Louise.

* * *

 _Location: Tristain Capital City_

It took a few good hours just to reach the city and Ragna had announced that he will, no matter what, not ride a horse ever again. Why? Well...

One: The horse hates him for some odd reason and it constantly attempts to kick him.

Two: The only reason why it took longer than necessary because the horse tries to make Ragna get off him, even with Louise's command.

Three: When Ragna entered the stable, all the horses freaked out for no reason whatsoever.

Conclusion? Horses hate him, he hates horses, he might as well just run all the way from the city back to the academy.

"Is it just me or the street seems to be quite narrow?" Indeed it is narrow for Ragna, not only the street was not 5 feet wide, his somewhat large size makes him feel really cramped. Also, due to his height, which is 6'08", makes him stick out like a sore thumb. His red coat doesn't help either.

"Cramped? This is Bourdonné Street, Tristain's widest avenue. The palace is straight ahead." Louise pointed.

Up ahead was a large castle made out of cobblestones, it was surrounded by a wall meant to protect the castle in case of attacks. To Ragna, witnessing such things can be considered an honor since most of the castles back in his world were destroyed by the Black Beast. Although can the wall really hold since this world has mages.

"So, where the hell is the weapon shop? I can't really stand being in this street any longer," Ragna said.

"Trust me Ragna, later you will rather choose this than the next thing you see."

Louise walked into an even narrower road. A revolting stench, coming from piles of trash and other dirty things on the ground, soon hit their noses. It seems to be the slum, not that Ragna mind about the smell anyway (even though he really dislike it) but the even narrower road made him reconsider which one is better.

At the fourth intersection, Louise stopped and looked around, "Should be near Peyman's Potion Shop… I remember it's around here somewhere…", until she saw a bronze sign and happily cried, "Ah! Found it!"

A sword-shaped sign dangled under it. It looked like this was the arms dealer's shop. Louise and Ragna walked up the stone steps, opened the door, and entered the shop.

Despite the bright daylight outside, the shop was a bit dark inside. A gas lamp flickered. The walls and shelves were filled with unorganized weapons. A detailed suit of armor decorated the room. A man in his fifties smoking a pipe eyed Louise suspiciously. That is until he saw the pentagram on her golden button. He removed his pipe quickly and panicky said, "My lady! My noble lady! All of my wares here are real and reasonably priced! There's nothing criminal here!"

"I'll be your customer today," those words managed to calm the man down. Good, she doesn't need a panicking retailer.

"Oh… that's rather weird… a noble buying a sword! Quite strange."

"Why is that?" Louise asked suspiciously. While it's true nobles rarely buy swords that doesn't mean they never. Take Karin the Wind and Viscount Wardes for example.

"Well… priests wave sacred staffs, soldiers wave swords, and nobles wave wands. Isn't that the rule?" The man asked.

"Oh, I'm not the one using it. My familiar is."

"I don't like the way you refer me, Louise," Ragna glared her, albeit without malice.

Both Louise and the merchant promptly ignore him, "Ahh… a familiar that can use a sword, huh?" (Ragna glared more intensely) The shopkeeper spoke in a lively voice and looked at Ragna. "I believe that would be this gentleman over there?"

"Yes. While I'm not knowledgable about swords but my familiar here-"

"Louise, you're pissing me off right now," as evident his eyebrows were twitching violently.

"- is a very experienced warrior."

The shopkeeper jubilantly walked into his warehouse, silently rambling, "Oh, this is too great… I can raise the prices so high with this…" shortly afterward, he returned with a longsword of about a mail in length. It was a very exquisitely decorated sword. It looked like one could swing it with just one hand. There was even a hand guard on the short handle.

The shopkeeper said as though he just thought of something, "Speaking of which, it seems that nobles like to let their servants bear swords lately. The last time any of them came to pick one from me, they picked this type."

"You know the reason?" Louise asked.

"I do, I do. Apparently, there seems to be an increase of thievery among the streets of Tristain recently."

"Thievery? Tell me more about it." ' _Odd'_ , Louise though. _'The security in this city is quite tight, how can thievery increase recently? Unless the guards are slacking off all I can think of is the thief, or thieves, are skilled.'_

"Yes. Some mage thief that calls himself something like 'Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt,' and I heard he stole a lot of treasures from the nobles. Those nobles are getting really rattled, so they're arming their servants with swords."

"I see... oh well we're being off topic here. Do you have anything better?"

"Yes, yes I do. Please wait."

The shopkeeper went inside again. After a while, he returned, one hand rubbing the new specimen with an oily rag.

"What about this one?" It was a splendid broadsword of around a mail and a half in length. The handle was made for two-handed wielding and was lavishly decorated with jewels. A mirror-like blade reflected light with an irresistible glow. Anyone could look at it and say it was a very sharp and broad blade. "This is the best thing I have. Rather than say it's for nobles, it's more like something nobles _wish_ they can wear on their waists, but that's something reserved for very strong men. If not, wearing it on the back isn't half bad."

Ragna walked closer, his eyes narrowed at the sword. "Why the hell are you giving me this piece of shit? Gold is the worst material when it comes to being tools and while it looks sharp and strong, it's gonna break the moment I swing it. Throw that out of my sight, it ain't worth anything."

"B-but it's made by the famous Germanian alchemist Lord Shupei! It can cut through metal like butter because of the magic infused in it! See this inscription here?" The shopkeeper proudly pointed at the words on the handle. "You can't get this cheaper anywhere else."

"Pfft, I'm quite impressed that you still try to scam us. Lord Shupei? More like Lord Stupid. Let's get outta here Louise, I have enough of his bullshit."

At that moment a deep, male voice came from a pile of swords, "Color me surprised, I've never known words can burn this painfully."

Ragna and Louise turn to the pile of swords and Ragna immediately become tense. Louise thought it's because Ragna mistook the voice as a ghost since he is sweating bullets, even though he is keeping a straight face which is quite hilarious. At the background, the merchant held his hand over his head.

"What the hell? Hey, edgy why do you feel so... dark?"

"What did you say?" Ragna said, slightly feel insulted as he tried to find the source among the pile.

"Seriously, why is it so hard to find me? Are you fools blind?"

Ragna steeled himself and walk towards the pile. After a moment involving junks being thrown to the side, he found a rusty, damaged sword.

"Oh, so you're the source of the voice." _'Thank god it's not a ghost.'_

"Hey Derf, don't go disturb the customers!" The merchant yelled.

"Derf?" Ragna carefully inspected the sword. It was the same length as that huge broadsword, though its blade was slightly less broad. It was a thin longsword, although its surface was coated with rust, and one cannot say it was well made to any degree. Oh well, it could use some polish.

"Could it be… that this is a sentient sword?" asked Louise.

"That's right, lady. It's a sentient, magical, intelligent sword. I wonder what kind of mage could make a sword speak… but it's got a rotten tongue, always arguing with my customers. Hey, Derf! Keep up the insolence and I'll ask this noble here to melt you down!"

"Sounds good to me! I'd like to see you try it! I'm kinda tired of this world. I'd love to be melted down!"

"Fine! Then I'll melt you down!" The shopkeeper approached. But Ragna stopped him.

"That's just so wasteful, I mean I've seen a lot of semi-sentient weapons but... a talking sword? Man, I'm quite impressed by " Ragna stared at it. "You're called Derf, right?"

"Wrong! It's Derflinger-sama! Remember that!"

"Just like a person, it even has a real name. Although we could work on his tongue," Ragna muttered.

"Name's Ragna... just Ragna. Nice to meet you."

The sword fell silent, and it seemed to closely observe Ragna. After a while, it silently spoke. "So you came… are you a user?"

"A user?" Ragna arc an eyebrow at that statement.

"Hmm… you don't even know your true powers, huh? What… oh well! Buy me, my friend!"

Ragna stayed silent for a few second, thinking if he should buy the rusty sword. On one hand, he could just ignore this rambling old man (or sword in this case) and get out of the shitty store. But to find something almost like a **Nox Nyctores** in this new world...

"Ermmmmm, Ragna is it? Are you gonna buy me or not?" Ragna immediately snapped back to reality when the rusty sword called him.

After a few more seconds of thinking, Ragna made his decision "All right. I'll buy you," said Ragna. The sword went silent again.

"Louise, I'll take this." Ragna turned back and said to the pinkette.

Louise reluctantly said, "You sure want this? I mean, sure, a talking sword is quite cool but it's still a damaged good."

"I'm sure I can get it in good shape."

"Alright then," Louise said tiredly. But she didn't have enough for anything else, so she asked the shopkeeper, "how much for this one?"

"Eh… 100 will do."

"Isn't that a bit cheap?"

"For that one? I'll let you take it for cheap." He waved his hand dismissively.

"Hey, how about giving it cheaper. I'm helping to get rid of something you have right?" Ragna said simply.

The merchant thinks for a moment before replying, "I give you half price."

"I'll pitch in 5 more for anything to make it good again."

The merchant looked at Ragna then nodded, "It's a deal then."

Ragna took out Louise's wallet from his pocket and poured its contents onto the counter. One by one, gold coins dropped onto the wooden surface. After careful counting, the shopkeeper finally nodded. "Thank you for your business!" the shopkeeper said as he sheathed the sword and gave it to Ragna. "If it gets noisy, just shove it back in the scabbard, and it'll shut up."

Ragna nodded and received Derflinger. He straps Derflinger around his back hips like how he used to do it with his old weapon.

Two figures watched as Louise and Ragna leave the weapons shop – Kirche and Tabitha. Kirche watched the two from the shadows of the streets, fiercely biting her lip. "Louise the Zero… trying to warm your relationship with Ragna with a sword, huh? What the heck?" Kirche stamped the ground in anger. Tabitha, who never wanted to be part of this, was reading as usual since her job was done. Her familiar, Sylphid circled around the skies above them. They had followed the two here soon after they'd spotted them.

Kirche waited for them to walk far away and immediately ran into the weapons shop. The shopkeeper stared at Kirche as if he couldn't believe it. "Whoa… another noble? What the hell is going on today?"

"Hey there, boss…" Kirche played with her hair, a charming smile on her lips. The shopkeeper's face turned deep red under the sudden seduction.

"Do you happen to know what that noble bought not long ago?"

"A s-sword… she bought a sword." He stuttered as he was enchanted by her seduction.

"I see… so she did get him a sword… what kind of sword?"

"A d-dirty and rusty one. Also some oil and polishing stones."

"Rusty? Why?"

"Because she didn't bring enough money and because her servant wanted it."

Kirche laughed, her hand to her chin. "She went broke! Vallière! Your Duke's house will cry for this! And does Ragna want a rusty sword?"

"Uh… is my lady here to buy a sword, too?" The shopkeeper perked up, not willing to let go of the chance. _This noble looks racked and rich compared to that tiny one._

"Hmm… show me your best."

The man walked inside, brushing his hands in excitement. He returned, of course, with the broadsword he just showed to his precious customers.

"Ahh… a very well-made sword!"

"You have a good eye, my lady. Although the servant said it was, and I quote, **"A piece of shit"**."

"Is that so?" _Looks good to me though._

"Of course… this sword _is_ made by the famous Germanian alchemist Lord Shupei after all. It can cut through metal like butter because of the magic infused in it! See this inscription here?" The shopkeeper repeated what he had said before.

Kirche nodded. "How much?"

The shopkeeper asked for more, seeing how Kirche looked a lot richer, "Hmm… for new gold coins, 4500."

"Hmm… that's a bit pricey." Kirche frowned.

"Well… great swords need to be paid for their worth, you know?"

Kirche thought for a while, slowly moving her body towards the shopkeeper. "Boss… isn't this just a bit expensive?" Upon being caressed at the throat, the salesman suddenly lost his breath. Temptations hit his mind.

"Uh… but… great swords are…"

Kirche sat on the counter, raising her left thigh. "Isn't the price a bit _too high_?" She slowly raised her left foot onto the counter. The salesman's eyes irresistibly stared at her thighs.

"Th-that's right… then… 4000 new gold…"

Kirche raised her thigh further so that he could _almost_ see in between them.

"Ah… nonono, 3000 would do…"

"It's getting hot in here…" Kirche ignored him, only opening her shirt's buttons. "I feel really hot in here. Help me take off my shirt, please…" She threw her most attractive expression at him.

"Ah… I got it wrong, I got it wrong… it's 2500!"

Kirche took off one button and looked up at the shopkeeper.

"1800! 1800's fine!"

Another button, exposing her cleavage. She looked at him again.

"Hey, 1600 will do!"

Kirche stopped with her buttons, and turned her attention to her skirt instead, raising it just so little. The man looked like he could not take any more.

"How does 1000 sound?" she suggested, slowly lifting her skirt more. He looked like he was about to hyperventilate.

And then she stopped. His rapid breathing turned to a sorrowful moan.

"Oh… ohhhhh…"

Kirche straightened herself out, and asked again, "1000."

"Oh! 1000 will be fine!"

Kirche stepped down from the counter, quickly wrote a check, and slapped it on the counter. "Bought!" She then picked up the sword and left the shop, leaving the salesman to stare at her check.

After a moment, he suddenly regained consciousness, holding his head. "DAMMIT! I SOLD THAT BABY FOR JUST 1000?!" He took a bottle of liquor from his cabinet. "Ohh… I'm done for today… Fuck this shit..."

* * *

Ragna and Louise walk the streets of Tristain back to where they left their horse. On the way, Louise decides to ask Ragna, "Ragna, correct me if I'm wrong but did you say you've seen some semi-sentient weapon before?"

He nodded, "Yeah, I've seen a few and I even personally know who made them. But I won't say anything even if you ask me."

Louise stare at him for a while, before she relented, thinking that now was not the best time to ask him such a private topic.

"Oh, now that is interesting. I've always thought I was the only weapon capable to think," Derf joined the conversation, speaking for the first time since they left the shop.

"I can't really blame you since those things were from my world. Added the fact that the process to make these weapons is... very disturbing to say the least."

"Can you elaborate more Ragna?" Louise asked.

"If you say so. Now where to start..." Ragna places his fingers on his chin while thinking, after a few second he decides to start from the beginning.

"Alright, we'll start with what those are. The semi-sentient weapons that I'm talking about are called **Nox Nyctores**. They are, supposedly ten, now eleven weapons that are converted from **Grimores** made by Nine the Phantom, one of the Six Heroes, to combat the **Black Beast**. I assume you know what is the Black Beast right, Louise."

"Well I don't," Derf replied.

"Okay, long story short, the Black Beast is a gigantic monster composed of **Seithr** , an element in my world, that wrecked havoc on the entire world and basically got killed by these weapons. Anyways, to makes these weapons... one of the requirement is a large number of **souls** , in other words, humans."

Louise immediately blanched, shocked by the fact that to make such weapons requires mass genocide.

"Okay, that's really disturbing! I'm very certain that I'm not being made through that process!" Derf exclaimed.

"I'm not saying you are. Hell, I'm not even sure you were made the same way as those **Nox Nyctores** so just calm down both of you. I'm not an expert in this topic anyway so I'm not going into details about them."

They continue to walk in silence until they reach their horse. They mount the horse with some trouble just like during the morning, but this time they manage to get it done faster. By the time they return it's already afternoon. Unknownbest to them, shit will go downhill very fast.

* * *

A/N

And done!

Well, finally I'm able to update this story. Once again, I'm terribly sorry for the sudden inconvenience because of RL issues. The fact that I and MechaDragon99 actually have the time to write is a godsend to us. But! This does not mean that update will come by more frequently, so don't expect this story to update in, at least, a monthly interval.

Anyway, on to the review.

Kotano-chan: Thanks, we'll do our best for our finals. I'll be honest, I can't write romance well, let alone a good harem (Don't want to bring up the horror known as Maburaho, that's cancer right there). Kinda ironic to be honest, the source material is a romance story... written by two-person who doesn't have any experience in writing romance. I'm not sure if I should get creeped out or respect people who can scream in rage and go "awww"ing hours without hurting throat. I certainly can't do that. True, Ragna is not a ladies man (that one goes to the Black Knight, Kagura Mutsuki), but then when it comes to harem... ***Laugh hysterically*** you have no idea how terrifyingly crazy it will be, my lady.

That's all.

Good night


	8. Chapter 6

Disclaimer*

I do not own Familiar of Zero and Blazblue. They belong to their respective creators and publishers.

Without further ado. Let's begin.

Also here are the speech text types

Normal-Hi

Thoughts- _Hi_

* * *

 _Location: Louise's room_

 _'_ _What the hell is going on...'_ Ragna thought as he continued to polish the rusty sword he just bought. Right now Louise's room was in chaos as the owner's room and her redhead rival glared at each other in anger while said redhead's friend just nonchalantly sit on Louise's bed.

Louise had her arms wrapped around her waist as she glared at Kirche. "Like I said, Ragna chose that sword not because of our budget..." _'Well partially,'_ "... it's because he explicitly said that he did not _want_ that."

"Yeah... Like he would really choose that sword. I will bet that he really, really wanted my gift." Then she turned to Ragna and a smile formed. "Right darling?"

"I'm just gonna said this once. Don't. Call. Me. Like. That. The last person who give me that treatment was obsessed to kill me." He thanked whatever god in this world that Nu was back in his world and there was no 'Nu number 2' in this world. He doesn't need to go through that again thank you. "Oh, about that shiny sword you're about to give me. Don't even bother. All I can do with that sword is asking my enemy to 'come at me and kill me'. Plus, it's only a decoration, not a weapon. So get that out of my face now." He said that while polishing the other side of Derflinger. He could've sworn that the sword just moaned in delight for a moment. Oh well, at least it doesn't have Jin's voice.

"You heard that Zerbst. While I may see that sword has beauty, I'll trust Ragna's judgment as he has more experience with weapons." Louise said triumphantly and gave Kirche a smug smile. Kirche, on the other hand, dropped her smile and start shedding crocodile tears.

"Why are you so cruel to me darling!" Right as she said that she threw herself to Ragna, who quickly moved Derflinger away from Kirche so she won't be hurt.

"Hey! Get off me, woman! I don't like strangers touching me!" The grim reaper immediately shoots her an irritated look and pushed her away. She pouted at Ragna's action, who continued to polish the sword.

"Just because darling treats me like that doesn't mean I'm willing to give up. In fact..." Kirche reached out to her cleavage and took out her wand. "I challenge you to a duel Valliere! If I win darling has to take my gift."

"Wait, I thought you students can't duel!" Ragna said in surprise.

"In secret..." Tabitha simply said.

 _'I really doubt the teachers won't catch them.'_

"Very well then. I accept." Louise declared.

"But of course, we have to do this with magic!" Kirche triumphantly declared.

"And Close Quarter Combat," Louise said, surprising Kirche. "I prefer not to use my Explosion to attract the teacher's attention and you don't want to get blown up right in your face don't you?"

"Hmph, very well then Valliere. Hopefully, you don't regret this. Ragna will be the judge for our duel and we are doing this at the courtyard."

 _'And here I thought she understands what I just said.'_ Ragna thought in exasperation.

* * *

 _Location: Courtyard_

The two moon shined brightly, somewhat managed to illuminate the field where Louise and Kirche duel. Ragna and Tabitha stand on the sideline, watching Louise and Kirche aiming their wand at each other waiting for the signal to begin.

Ragna walked a few steps forward and raise his left arm. "Both of you ready?" Louise and Kirche nodded. For a few more second, there was only silence as the wind blows.

"Begin!"He announced as swung his arm, signifying the beginning of the duel.

Louise dash towards Kirche as she began to chant a simple spell. Kirche immediately started her own chanting to take down Louise quickly.

" **Fireball!** "A ball of fire shot out of Kirche's wand, flying towards Louise. Louise quickly jumped to her left and aimed her wand at her target. " **Wind!** " As soon as she said that, an explosion happened. But unlike the usual one where there was only the 'boom' but not the damage, this one has some slight amount of damage and the smoke takes in a cone shape.

 _'Trying to blind me?! You underestimate me, Valliere!'_ Kirche hopped out of the smoke zone, trying to regain her vision. She heard footsteps from beside her, so she turned around only to see Louise was very close to her, hands clenched. Her eyes widen as she immediately felt pain in her stomach as Louise dug her fist into her gut. Louise immediately followed it up with a tackle only to be stopped by Kirche grabbing her shirt's collar and throw her away with a lot of effort.

"That was barbaric of you Valliere," Kirche said that with coughs in between. She can feel the damage she just received. To think that someone as small as Louise can pack a punch was something she had to be careful now. Thank Brimir that Louise was not someone who simply use physical violence to lash out on anyone.

"Anything goes in a battle Zerbst. Mother taught me that." Louise replied as she slowly regained her breath. Her petite body was a problem as she lacked the lung capacity to last very long. While she can endure longer than most others who have the same physique, she doubted she can outlast anyone who had done more physical training than her.

Louise and Kirche ran towards each other after a few seconds. Louise made a jab with her right hand, which got countered by Kirche swatting her arm away and followed up by a backhand slap. Louise rolled on the ground to avoid Kirche subduing her on the ground. She managed to stand back up and looked at Kirche, who adopted a fighting stance albeit somewhat sloppy. Just as they were going to continue, Ragna said something that broke their concentration.

"What the is that giant thing?" Ragna pointed at a distance where the vault was.

"That's a golem! A triangle class one in fact!" Louise said after identifying the structure.

"It's at the vault! So that means..."

"Fouquet." Tabitha finished her friend's sentence.

Louise immediately sprinted towards the golem's direction, with everyone just behind her. As they approach their destination, the golem raised its arm punched the vault's wall. They became surprised when they saw there was no damage to the wall.

"Holy shit. That wall's tough." Ragna said in awe.

"I heard it was reinforced by multiple Square class mages. But to think it's that powerful..." Kirche muttered.

When they reached where the golem was, they notice a figure on the golem's shoulder. The figure noticed them and clicked their tongue.

"What are you children doing here late night? Go back to your bedroom now." The figure said.

"Uh... I'm the adult here." Ragna deadpanned.

"Never mind about that. Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt, cease your action now!" Louise and the other mages took out their wands, ready to attack at any moment.

"As if I would do that!" Fouquet flicked their wand, causing the golem to raise its leg. "I've waited too long for this opportunity, now get out of my way!"

The golem tried to stomp them, crushing them into a bloody smithereens. Louise and Tabitha quickly move away while Ragna grabbed Kirche by her waist and dash away. Ragna released her as soon as soon he stopped, causing her to make an audible "ow". He turned to the golem and started to run towards it.

"Ragna what are you doing?!" Louise shouted at him.

"I've fought something bigger than that doll before. So..." Ragna unsheaths Derflinger, who was now a lot less rusty than he was last time. The runes on Ragna's hand glowed, but he ignored it for now as he could feel a boost in his overall strength. With his newfound strength, he leaped upward when he was in front of the golem, reaching all the way to the golem's waist. "This should be easy as hell!" He placed one of his foot on the stone surface of the golem and started to wall running towards Fouquet. Fouquet was surprised by the feat, but quickly recovered and started to shoot large stones at Ragna.

Ragna wanted to dodge but that would mean he will lose some momentum to wall run due to the extra distance he needed to uncover. Just then, fireballs and icicles flew past him, colliding with the stones. He didn't turn around as he knew it was Kirche and Tabitha did it. He said a "Thanks" as he continued to reduce the distance between him and Fouquet. When Ragna got around the golem's chest, he noticed Fouquet grinned.

He widens his eyes when he got caught by one of the golem's hand. "Shit!" The golem started to crush him, causing to scream in pain.

"Ragna!" Louise and Kirche screamed in horror while Tabitha tried to help him by continued her icicle assault on its joints but to no avail.

Louise clenched her teeth and tighten her grip on her wand. Immediately she placed her left hand on the right side of her chest. Her eyes lose it's light and one of her eyes slowly turn red.

" **Restriction-** "

"DON'T YOU DARE DO THIS YOU LITTLE BRAT!" Ragna shouted at Louise, breaking her trance and return her to normal. He screamed again when the hand tightened even further. Louise, who had enough, chanted and fired a spell. " **Fireball!** " Unfortunately for her, she hit the wall of the vault. However, the blast managed to affect Fouquet, causing them to lose their concentration and caused the hand to released Ragna.

Ragna managed to land safely by rolling on the ground. Fouquet noticed a crack on the vault's wall when the dust clear. They immediately command the golem to punch the wall. Upon impact, the wall broke, allowing Fouquet to enter the vault. Fouquet entered the vault through the hole and began their search for their target.

 **Giant Blade of Darkness**.

Fouquet surveyed the vault and found it. The blade was contained inside a box with a white paper writing [ **Giant Blade of Darkness** ] on top of it. Fouquet picked up the box, surprised by the sheer weight of the box, nearly dropped it.

' _Whoever used this blade must be a really huge brute._ ' Fouquet though as they walked towards the entrance. They command the golem to raise one of its hand and promptly throw the box at its palm, causing a thump sound upon landing. They jumped on the shoulder of the golem, but not before leaving a message 'I have the **Giant Blade of Darkness**. – Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt. **'**

Meanwhile, on the ground, Tabitha quickly went to Ragna and used one of her water spells called ' **Guerir** '. While it's not as fast as Celica's healing, it's better than nothing for Ragna. Louise knelt beside him, apologizing him over and over again for failing to assist. He told her it's okay a few times in order to shut her up. Kirche, on the other hand, stayed vigilant, looking at the hole made by Fouquet. The moment Fouquet's golem raise its hand, she informs everyone about it.

Ragna stands up, "Alright, if that asshole runs we're going after him. I'm not done with him yet."

"I think we should leave this to the teachers," Kirche suggested.

"Oh, we're so gonna leave it to them and let Fouquet run. Great idea Zerbst." Louise said sarcastically.

As soon as she said that, the golem began to move. It turned to one of the wall's exit and marched through it.

Everyone tried to catch up to it, but Fouquet wouldn't have it their way. The thief casts a few more of their spells, shooting large rocks and stone spikes towards them thus delaying them.

"Damn, how are we going to chase him down now?" Ragna muttered, loud enough for everyone to hear.

Tabitha whistled and looked up to the night sky. Everyone got confused and looked up, noticing a silhouette slowly descending. When the silhouette landed, it revealed to be Tabitha's familiar, Sylphid. She pushed Ragna towards the dragon with her staff, annoyed him slightly. "Hey, what was that for?"

"Hey, what was that for?"

"Ride..." Tabitha simply said while she mounts Sylphid.

"Fine, as long as we can chase him down."

"What about us?" Kirche asked.

"Stay here and call whoever teacher you got," Ragna replied. "Let's go chase that piece of shit."

Sylphid flapped its wings, lifting the Reaper and Tabitha into the air. Soon, they began to chase the golem.

As soon as they leave, the teachers arrived.

"I'm sorry we're late. Are you girls hurt?" Louise and Kirche shook their head. "Thank the Founder. Now please tell me what happened."

Louise told him about everything that happened (except her duel which got replaced with her and Ragna strolling around) to Colbert. The bald man immediately called all the combat-ready teachers to chase Fouquet. The staff complied and began to rush towards the stable.

"Now then," Colbert turned to the girls. "Both of you should go back to your dorm. Let us handle it."

"No," Louise said, surprising him. "I would like to assist Ragna, Professor Colbert."

"Miss Valliere, I highly not recommend that. Not only it's dangerous but-"

"You're asking me to stand on the sideline and hope my familiar to come back?! I refuse to do that. Besides, we're dealing with a Triangle-mage construct. The stones are very hard to be broken unless we could use a Triangle or Square Fire-Earth mage, which I remember we don't have right now."

Colbert tried to say something but quickly got interrupted by Louise. "And as a noble, my pride refuses to let my familiar to fight alone. I want to fight by his side that is final, professor!"

Colbert stared at Louise, who had a determined look. He continued to stare and eventually gives in with a sigh. "Very well, have it your way, Miss Valliere." Louise immediately brightens, "But know this. I will go to the chase with you to ensure your safety. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I do." Louise quickly reply.

"I would prefer 'we do' Valliere."

Both Lousie and Colbert turned to Kirche. "Why is that Zerbst?" Louise narrowed her eyes at Kirche, trying to understand her motives.

"You can't even cast a proper spell Zero, how are you suppose to take that construct down?"

Louise smirked, "You are so going to retrace that statement Ardent."

* * *

Yes, I'm very aware that this chapter is short and I'm taking too long to make this chapter but hear me out.

There are good reasons why I'm seriously late.

1\. Recently I and Mechadragon99 are having a huge exam, so we pour most of our time into revision.

2\. My laptop got overheated 2 months ago so I can't write outside of my house anymore. Plus, during that time I was forced to live in my school dorm so that sucks. Right now I'm not living there already.

3\. My internet got struck by lightning so the bloody thing took me a month just to fix it.

Finally, this chapter is short due to the fact I can't think of how to continue after the end so I decided to leave it at that and post this chapter so forgive me if you guys don't like it. I'll try my best to make better chapters next time after our exam.

With those out of the way, review time.

marconator360: Sorry if I didn't reveal what that sword is but I promise I'll do it in the next chapter.

Neema Amiry and Cookie: You're welcome.

Kotano-chan: Heyo! Sorry for late update, even though I have time to do reviews in stories I've followed. So, how's your test? Did you do good? I hope so. For me, I've struggled a lot in Physics and Accounting but I managed. The need of 'soul' for weapons kind of freak you out? Well considering Nine the Phantom and the other Nox Noctorus users were dealing with a world-ending monster, I guess she has no choice at the time anyway. I hope you're okay with this chapter for now.

Fateoffencer: Well... it can be hard distinguish them sometimes but I don't want to annoy my readers with 'demee' or any other catchphrase (I guess that what you call them?) I guess it's just you but I'm glad that you read this story at least.

Well, that's all for now.

Good night everyone, Happy Halloween. (Even though it's late.)


	9. Chapter 7

Disclaimer*

I do not own Familiar of Zero and Blazblue. They belong to their respective creators and publishers.

Without further ado. Let's begin.

Also here are the speech text types

Normal-Hi

Thoughts- _Hi_

* * *

 _Location: Outside of Tristain Academy_

Wind pelted through their faces as Ragna and Tabitha traverse through the outskirt of the Academy chasing Fouquet. Despite the large size of the golem, it was surprisingly fast. The moons in the sky were the only source of light out here so Sylphid increased its speed to chase the thief.

"Alright, here's the plan. We get near that golem, I'll try to keep him busy while you take whatever he's stolen. Got it?"

Tabitha only nodded, not doubting Ragna's plan and commanded Sylphid to get near the golem. Tabitha became focused on chasing Fouquet that she didn't notice the frown on the Grim Reaper's face.

He just couldn't figure it out what's wrong with his grimoire right now. It's weird for Ragna that his soul eater isn't functioning the way he wants. He could read others souls in his world just by simply glancing at it, thus knowing their identity. But now, there seems to be a limited range of it and it frustrates him to no end. He knows the Seithr concentration here was not as much as Kagutsuchi but to affect this much? There has to be a problem with his grimoire or this world was screwing with him (as if his world wasn't bad enough).

Fouquet turned their head and noticed the blue dragon, "Persistent aren't you?" and began to chant. More spikes erupted from the ground but this time, they flew upward. The dragon skillfully evaded the projectiles and continue its chase. "Dammit," she scowled under her breath and summoned more projectiles of various shapes. "Just leave me alone already!"

"Can't do that you bitch!" Fouquet wiped her head upward and surprised by the appearance of Ragna, in midair of all places. He drew out Derflinger and held it with two hands. The sentient sword became coated in darkness as Ragna poured Seithr into it and as soon as he was on top of the golem, " **Nightmare Edge** ," he shouted. He immediately shot downward diagonally, causing a slamming slash of darkness and cut the golem in half. When he landed on the ground, Ragna brings his blade behind himself over his leading shoulder, performing a slamming slash with a snake-like dark energy trails the attack.

The golem split in half and crumbled. The thief hopped from a rock to another as she descends, trying not to be hit by one of those rocks. The box containing the treasure land roughly on the grassy plains, at the same time Fouquet also landed. Ragna and Fouquet rushed to the fallen object, ignoring the falling rocks around them. Ragna managed to grab the box and spun away from Fouquet's hand.

"Give the box, dear," Fouquet said, gesturing Ragna to hand over the Blade of Darkness.

The reaper merely narrowed his eyes before speaking up, "Sorry, I'm not gonna give this to you, _secretary_."

Fouquet gasped in surprise while Ragna continued, "If you want to get away from this scotfree just get the hell out of here. I don't feel like beating you up."

"Oh? Are you mocking me just because I'm a woman? Let me have you know that this _secretary_ here can beat some asses. Your's included." She taunted.

Ragna merely cracked his fingers and neck,"No I'm not, idiot," he posed himself into a fighting stance, "just don't regret what you said cause I'm nOT HOLDING BACK! **Hell's Fang!** "

Ragna dashed forward with a **Hell's Fang** and Fouquet quickly create a stone wall to block the attack. That proved to be useless as he simply smashed through it. Fouquet hastily dodged away from the darkness-cloaked fist by ducking down. She tried to trip Ragna but the reaper proved to be much faster as he hopped. She more or less expected this to happen so she erupted a group of stone pikes around her. while declaring " **Quartzite** **Pike** ". Ragna got knocked away a few meter away with some injury around his arm, as he felt some of the pikes managed to bypass his barrier. He skidded for a moment before coming to a halt, then flicked his arms to push away the blood.

"Tch, to think my barrier got nerfed too," Ragna grunted. To even think a lowered concentration of Seithr would nerf most of his abilities to this level, things would definitely be harder this time around. "Oh well, you can't have everything, or so they said."

"You're saying you're not at your full strength?! Then what was that just now? You smashed that wall like it was nothing!"

"Believe me, some people I knew can do the same thing as easy as a tap." Fouquet became more dumbstruck by his 'as a matter of fact' attitude. If what that man said was true then... she shuddered at the thought. But what if he was bluffing to scare her? No, she can't take any risk anymore. The only way to escape now was to stall him until she can escape.

She began to chant once again, this time longer than what she did during the battle. Ragna rushed forward to interrupt her, only to be stopped by a stone landed in front of him, stopping his track. Fouquet thanked her luck internally while finishing her chant. " **Molding Doppler** ," the earth beside her became unstable and turn into a pool of mud. Then the mud rises up and formed itself into a humanoid form holding a steel sword. The mud turned into pure steel once it fully formed itself and the now formed golem poised itself with two-handed sword stance.

"Oh just have to, don't you? That brat's a bad example already," Ragna frowned.

"Please, I'm not like that snobbish fool. At least I learned self-defense."

Fouquet and Ragna got into a battle stance once more until someone landed beside Ragna from the air. Ragna looked to his side and grinned at the light blue haired loli. He turned back to Fouquet, who was visibly irritated by such development.

 **[Que ost: Don't Stand In My Way from DMC3 (Start from 1:10)]**

 **[Reconstruction of The Wheel is inevitable]**

 **[ENGAGE]**

Both parties charged at each other and Ragna swung his sword once he got near enough. His blade met with another blade as the steel golem stopped his attack. At the corner of his eyes, he noticed a dozen of stone spears coming towards his direction only to be intercepted by Tabitha's ice lances. He pushed the golem away and proceed to use **Hell's Fang** along with its follow-up attack, causing a few small dent in its body and skidded across a few meter. Tabitha followed up his attack by making more ice lances, which hailed on top of both Fouquet and her golem. The thief quickly created a new stone wall, only curved this time, to stop the ice lances. Fouquet swung her wand hand horizontally, causing the wall to swung outward and send the ice lances back to the reaper's party.

Ragna broke each and every one of those lances that might hit them in a swift manner while Tabitha chanted. When she finished her chant, she slammed her stave on the ground, " **Arctic Horizon Zero!** ", and ice spikes erupted quickly towards the thief's party. Fouquet did the same thing," **Quartize Pike (offense edition)** ," but with stone pikes instead of ice. Both magic collided violently, causing a blast strong enough to shook the ground and push away the falling rocks.

" **Dead Spike,** " Ragna swings his sword upward along the ground to release dark energy from his sword in the shape of a beast's head. The head crawls across the ground while Ragna and Tabitha run with the head in front of them. The golem tried to impede them but got skewered by Tabitha's newly made ice lances. The head connected and stunned Fouquet.

Fighters tend to not close their eyes so that they can keep up with what their opponent was doing, even after being hit. But for Fouquet, she regretted to have such instinct. Because as soon as **Dead Spike** managed to connect,"Let the Darkness consume you!", Ragna's hand turns into a claw of a beast as he snatches the opponent, lifts her up over his head and bombards her with dark tendrils, finishing with an explosion of darkness. Fouquet screamed in agony as the tendril cut her, the pain was too much for her but every time she went unconscious, the pain would wake her up again. The explosion of darkness cause her to flew a few feet away from Ragna and rolled on the ground roughly.

 **[FINISHED]**

 **[End song]**

She coughed up some blood and then wipe it off. When she tried to stand up however she falls back down and felt strength starting to leave her.

"Don't bother to get up," Fouquet looked up and saw Ragna stood in front of her with Derflinger pointed at her.

"If you want to stay alive it's better to lay low, trust me. There's a damn good reason my ability was called **Soul Eater**."

Fouquet growled at him and tried to stand up once more, only to, yet again, fall. She clenched her fist in anger and felt her eyes became watery.

It's frustrating for her. To think that she planned the whole thing only to be ruined by a familiar of all things. Now with a sword pointing at her, she's at the mercy of that said familiar. Right now she will either die from the hands of this familiar (let's face it, he's not like someone who took life for the first time) or she will be imprisoned and be punished. If she's lucky she might only be in jail for a very long time but at worst, however...

' _I just hope she will be okay while I'm gone_.'

"I got a question for you," huh? "Are you seriously that desperate about money? I mean you're working as a secretary so I'm very sure their pay was enough."

"..."

"You're gonna give me the silent treatment, don't you? That shit won't work on me."

"Why bother? Just finish your business with me then go back to your midget master," she said, full of hostility.

"Well women, sorry to break it to you but you're my business now so you're better cooperate with me. Now tell me, _why?_ "

Fouquet stayed silent for a moment while Tabitha approached them. She glanced at the fallen thief then to the reaper, arching an eyebrow but said nothing.

"What the hell do you know about anyway? It's not like it will help or anything," Fouquet said in a low voice.

"Yeah, it won't help. The world can't give a shit about your situation."

"Then why-"

"But if you tell what the hell's your problem is to _someone_ , they might give a shit. Look, what I'm trying to say is, depending what you said, I might reconsider letting you go."

Tabitha and Fouquet became visibly surprised by his statement. The thief actually considered his offer, while wary that it might be a trap. She opened her mouth her mouth and...

* * *

"Ah, over there!" Louise pointed in the direction where Sylphid was seen sitting down on top of a rubble.

Colbert whipped the horse once more to gain more speed, outrunning most of the galloping horses. Louise did the same to follow him from behind, so Kirche had no choice but to hold the pinkette tighter so she will not fall off.

"Don't clutch me tighter you whore!" Louise's face became beet red as she can feel the redhead's breast pressing against her. The situation doesn't help either as the constant galloping causes it to bounce as if physics was never there.

"I can't help it Valliere, if I don't do it I might fall."

"Then good riddance."

The two continued to bicker while Colbert could only sigh. He began to slow down as they were near the rubble. They could see Ragna sitting down on one of the rubble with Tabitha.

"Wait, is that... what are you doing Mister Ragna?!"

Ragna raised up his right arm, which revealed the appearance of the Giant Blade of Darkness. The handle looked like a black rifle with a magnum barrel around its middle and a large blade was attached to the front end of the handle. The blade indeed lived up to its name as it was very big and looked heavy. At the back end of the handle, however, a long, black ribbon was tied on it.

Colbert stopped near where Ragna was and got off his horse. "Why did you open the box Mister Ragna? The Giant Blade of Darkness was a national treasure! What if you damaged it by accident."

Ragna ignored everything he said and grinned. He pressed a small trigger on the sword and the sword began to work its mechanism. Steam came out of the barrel and the sword began to expand. The blade part flipped a few times and finally turning the sword into a scythe.

The scythe gleamed in the moonlight and looked at it nostalgically. "Couldn't believe I would miss you after I left you back at the Gate."

Louise finally arrived and got off her horse. She looked at the scythe, mouth agape by its appearance. "Isn't that... your sword Ragna?"

"I thought I would never get this back at all but, I guess you could say we're soul bound."

"H-how?"

Ragna and Louise turned to Colbert, who was shellshocked by the revelation. Ragna arched an eyebrow and look at the girls. Tabitha merely stay silent while Louise made an 'I have no idea' gesture.

"Professor Colbert is a researcher in the Academy. So imagine his shock that you, Darling, manage to figure out the sword's hidden feature," Kirche said as she walked towards him.

"Oh, its quite easy actually. This thing here was mine since day one so I know all of its mechanics," Ragna said casually.

Ragna could've sworn he heard glass shattering noise from the bald researcher. He mentally shrugs it off and proceeds to explain.

"You see, this sword actually has no name at all. And before you say anything, I don't want it to be called Giant Blade of blah blah blah, it's a mouthful. Anyway, I was the one who used it ever since I got it from my master and all I can say is that he's been quite helpful over the years."

"Then did you gave the sword to the Headmaster?" Colbert, who recovered from his shellshocked state, questioned him.

"Nope, don't even recall I gave that old man the sword. All I know was that I left it back at home hoping someone else uses it or let it rust. I've done my part in the fighting anyway."

Indeed he has done his part. He sacrificed his existence so that the Centralfiction would end, thus ending the cycle of endless destruction and rebirth and gave the world the ability to have 'possibility'. At the time that was the only solution he could think of anyway so he left the sword behind and went through the Gate. Speaking of the sword...

"Did you guys put this ribbon on it? Cause I'm pretty sure it wasn't there last I used it," Ragna asked while holding out the blade so that Colbert could see the ribbon. Colbert shooked his head, "No. When I was researching your weapon it was already there."

' _That could only mean one thing..._ '

Ragna took off the ribbon and looked at it with nostalgia and affection. He had a small smile on his face and he sighed.

"You just have to chew me out even after I took your memories don't you," he said in a low voice.

Everyone could only look at him in confusion, wondering what he meant. He shooked his head and attached the sword his at his back hip while putting Derflinger on his side. He looked at the sword and wondered why was it silent this whole time.

"Hey, you okay Derf?" No reply, "Derf?"

Then the sword suddenly started to mumble a bunch of mess with words like 'I'm not a pipsqueak', 'Bitch be crazy' and 'Hail Hydra' included, and he even managed to say something like 'La Le Lu Le Lo'.

"What the fuck?"

"Whoa, is it drunk?" Louise wondered while everyone was just as confused as Ragna. He shooked the sword a few times before Derflinger suddenly split out some dark substance that melts upon contacting the ground.

" ***cough* *cough*** PARTNER!" Ragna and everyone present got startled by his sudden rise of voice. "DO NOT, AND I MEAN IT, DO NOT FEED ME WITH THOSE 'THINGS' AGAIN! GOT IT?!"

"O-Okay... if you say so."

"Good, now I go back to sleep."

And sleep indeed he did, as everyone could hear his snoring.

"By the way," Ragna turned to Colbert. "Where is Fouquet? I couldn't see him anywhere."

"Oh, he ran away. A tricky bastard that man." Colbert widened his eyes, "When I was going to knock him out it turns out the guy I was fighting was just a clay clone. No wonder he felt lighter than I thought."

He heard Louise something along the lines of 'making my debut' but he merely shrugs it off. "Is that true Miss Tabitha?" Colbert asked Tabitha, who merely nodded. "I see, it was unfortunate that the thief managed to escape but at least we retrieve uh... Mister Ragna's sword," he managed to correct himself in time as he saw a glint in Ragna's eyes.

The remaining teachers manage to arrive and began to look around for the thief. Some of the teachers looked for any injury done to Ragna and Tabitha, only for the reaper to decline the offer roughly. "We're going back now Louise." "Eh? Oh okay."

Ragna, Louise, Tabitha, and Kirche mounted their respective ride with Kirche going with Louise again while Ragna mounts Sylphid.

"Darling, I thought you want to ride a hor- ow!" Kirche glared at Louise, who gave back her glare and shooked her head. Kirche arched an eyebrow and turned to her darling, who she saw glaring at their horse. She slowly pieced everything in her mind and only made an "Oh," in disappointment.

Both of the drivers commanded their mounts and they began to make their way back to the Academy. Ragna looked at the ribbon once more. The black ribbon fluttered in the air gently with grace, just like its owner. He brought the ribbon towards his forehead but suddenly stop.

' _Roses,_ ' he thought. ' _Expected of her really. Just hope she won't get mad at me for doing this._ ' He tied the ribbon of his forehead and let the untied part to flutter in the air. He looked at the twin moon and reminisced his one and only genuine promise with the ribbon's owner.

 _"Never admit defeat. Endure whatever pain you may face, and fight until the very end, as a human being. Even if you're ugly, and pathetic, and broken... Please, Ragna. Promise me that you will fight until the end... as a human being."_

Ragna smiled and closed his eyes.

"Even in this new world, I planned to continue to do that."

He reopened his eyes and stared at the moon once more.

"The moons... are quite beautiful here... Rachel."

* * *

 _"Rachel..."_

 _?_

 _"Thanks for everything up until now."_

 _You don't have to say it, because... I care about you. I... watched you never gave up over and over again. I... I..._

 _"And... farewell."_

* * *

Blood red eyes opened as she suddenly became awake. She stood up and walked towards the window, where the moon can be seen. Her heart clenched and tears dripped unvoluntary.

"Where are you? I want to see you now."

* * *

Finally done! Like the last chapter, I felt it's short but that all I can write for now as I felt that's should be the proper ending for the chapter. Also, if you're disappointed by the fight scene, I don't blame you. When it comes to writing I really suck at battles and romance in general. If I write the battle with 'slashes that doesn't kill someone' I felt it's very unrealistic. Yes, in-game you can cut all you want and the guy will still be alive. But this is LN we're talking about, so there has to be a small bit of realism in it.

Now, I have something to tell all of you.

With my exams done you would've thought that I'm free right? Nope, I need to find a bloody job right now so that I can save up for Blazblue: Cross Tag Battle for Pc (#Pc-god-tier-console). Now I have a job but it felt more like a volunteer work since I'm helping my father to make up his lack of personnel in his company. So, what does it mean? It means less time to write. Life can be cruel...

Anyway, self-lamenting aside, let's get to the reviews!

Dread Grim Reaper: Hopefully you're satisfied by the explanation that is done in this chapter for the whole 'soul reading' thing. I thought real hard about it and my only alternative was retcon it. Sorry if it doesn't satisfy you but I didn't really play each and every Blazblue games so I didn't know this. I only know Blazblue through the Youtuber 'Quarterguy'.

marconator360: Hopefully that's what you expected about the sword. If not, well I'm sorry. Very, very sorry.

tentaclecat: I fixed the first chapter so I hope you can come back and read.

Neema Amiry: Thank you.

Kotano-chan: You and both girl. I seriously fumbled the test during that time and I really doubt I could remotely get close to a D for physics. I'm glad that you liked Louise and Kirche's fight, even though it ended abruptly. The truth about Ragna and Tabitha chasing Fouquet was actually inspired by an Okami (it's a great game, go check it out) and FoZ crossover where the familiar literally chase Fouquet for attempting harming Louise. I liked that scene so much that it's still in my head to this day. Too bad the fic got discontinued.

Anyway, that's all for tonight.

Good night everyone and Happy Early Christmas (^u^).


	10. Omake 1

*Disclaimer*

I do not own Familiar of Zero and Blazblue. They belong to their respective creators and publishers.

Without further ado. Let's begin.

* * *

 **This is an Omake so it will not be canon. Enjoy.**

* * *

 **Omake- Reunion phone call**

* * *

Louise woke up and realized someone's missing. More specifically, her original familiar, Saito Hiraga. She knew that she summoned Ragna but that doesn't mean she forgot Saito. But that begs the question, how did she remember him?

"Well, this is a fanfiction after all so I guess it's quite possible." She turned to 'me' gave me a deadpanned look. I guess you're right but where is he now?

"I can give him a call if you want." Go ahead, I'll give you a phone. Here.

'I' tossed my smartphone to her and when she pressed the unlock button, she frowned. What, she's my waifu. Can't an Otaku put it on his screensaver?

"Said waifu is half-naked." Whatever, just call him already. She unlocked my phone and punched in some number before putting the call on loudspeaker. It rang for a moment before it was picked up.

[Hello? Saito Hiraga speaking.]

"Ah, Saito, it's me, Louise."

[Louise, how did you call me?! I mean I'm not in the fanfic but-]

"Thank the author Saito, he made this Omake chapter just for me to talk to you," Louise said while smiling happily. Man oh man does she not know what I have planned.

[Thank you Author-san. I'm glad you did that. Although... are you sure this is okay? I mean _this_ is an Omake... weird things bound to happen.] Oh don't worry Saito, this Omake will not sink the Luito ship... *whisper* provided things go well.

[Uhh... okay? Anyways, who did you summon this time Louise? EMIYA? An OC?]

"It's Ragna the Bloodedge."

[...] The room fell into silence as soon as she finished her reply. Louise waited for a moment before asking Saito what's wrong. He kept silent for an extra few seconds before 'we' heard a deep breath.

[WHAT?! HIM OF ALL PEOPLE?!]

"AND YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THAT?!" Ragna suddenly barged into the room and shouted. Louise cringed at their loud voices and rubbed her ear.

"Ow, don't shout, please. I just woke up."

"[O-oh, sorry]" Both Ragna and Saito said at the same time.

[So... he's your Gandalf in this fanfic?] Saito asked worriedly.

"Before you get any ideas, he's not a love interest at all. It's confirmed by the author since chapter 2."

A sigh of relief came from the other side, he's really worried about sinking Louito huh.

[Of course I would, it's the canon ship dude.] Doesn't justify the fact that you have a harem and got seduced twice by the same person.

[Okay, to be fair, the princess tricked me into thinking that she's Louise on the first one and as for the second one, I was drunk.] Okay fine, I can't deny those.

"Anyways, since this is an Omake what did you planned Author?" Ragna turned to me, cross-armed and looked at me intently. I can't really blame him though, considering how many Gag Reels in Blazblue he's featured in. I mean, remember the Brotherly Paradise? "Don't talk about it!"

Well, if you guys want to get the real stuff happen, I'll give you guys a hint. Ask Saito's location.

"His location? Saito, where are you actually? I mean Ragna replaced you right?"

[Y-yeah, he replaced me so I'm still in Japan.]

"What with the stammering?" Louise narrowed her eyes.

[Huh, what stammering? Must be you ima-]

"Don't lie to me, Saito. We're _married_ remember?" Louise asked 'nicely', a tad bit too nicely in fact.

[L-look Louise, I gotta go now. My school's about to start now so I'll call you later.]

"Today's Sunday, don't think you can get out of this." Ragna began to slowly walk to the door as Louise oozes a hostile aura, purple in color and Nu-13's emblem was projected.

[L-louise, you're my best girl so don't need to get so suspicious on-]

[Saito~, I'm hungry~ Hm, who's on the phone?] A cute girl's voice can be heard on the phone as Saito yell in shock.

Louise widened her eyes as the aura increased in intensity (man there's so many 'in's), causing Ragna to bail out of the room.

"WHO IS SHE?! TELL ME NOW!"

[Is that a girl on the phone? Saito, I thought Haruna-chan, Riko-chan, and Yui-chan is part of you Harem?]

"H-HAREM?! What's going on! Explain to me now!" Oh boy, I shouldn't have made this Omake but oh well, might as well kick back, eat some pizza and watch Hell unleashed upon that harem protagonist.

[You did on purpose didn't you?!] Saito shouted on the phone. Maybe? Maybe not?

[Oh, let me explain. Saito here was engaged to me after helping me get away from my pursuers. After that, he managed to chase away my suitors while making other girls fall in love with him. Since he's reluctant to break the girls' heart, I proposed him the Harem plan and he agreed! Oh, I'm Lala Satalin Deviluke, the first princess of the planet Deviluke by the way.]

[I didn't agree with it! You just force this whole 'engagement' thing to me! I don't even like those gir-]

"Saito..." And here comes the running gag, good times. Since I'm the author... here's a portal to Saito's place Louise.

Louise immediately dropped my phone on her bed, took her wand and walked through the portal. For a moment, nothing happened. Until...

*boom*

[ **YOU STUPID PERVERTED DOG!** ]

[ARGHHHHHH!]

* * *

Happy 2018 everyone! Woohoo! I hope you guys have a good year and I'm gonna start this year... with.. a... boom...

WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE LOGAN PAUL?! GET THE FUCK OUT OF JAPAN NOW!

If you guys don't know what happened, go to Google and look for that man. All I can say is that that man made my first day of the year livid, thus making me have a hard time to think of the next chapter. At least I have this Omake to distract me.

Oh well, with that out of the way, review answer time.

marconator360: Oh thank god, I was really worried that you will be disappointed. Oh well, thank you for the compliment. Ragna's sword is now back in action!

Dread Grim Reaper: Thank you very much girl, I was very worried about it at that time. Here's an Omake chapter for you.

Nerf585: Sorry for not giving you an actual chapter since it's still in progress. Hopefully, this Omake can keep you distracted for a while.

Kamecolin: Not the last goodbye though *grins*.

ultima-owner:I did that one purpose, cause my idea was Seithr are like drugs for him, but instead of making him addicted to it he just wants to get away from it as far as possible.

Anon-kun: I knew the sword doesn't have a name ever since I heard Ragna had a move called Bloodscyte, so I was seriously confused why did he had a sword named after one of this move? After looking into the wiki, I found it out that it's nameless. While the crossovers did gave the sword a name but until we have an official name, it's gonna be Ragna's sword forever. Though I'm tempted to give it a new name.

Suzululu4moe: Okay, I'll give you the answers in separate paragraphs so scroll down and read it okay.

First answer: Well, I was so focused on keeping FoZ canon happening that I didn't consider doing it.

Second answer: Considering how much fanfic out there depicted Louise's room is small, I couldn't make her buy a bed for him. but if you want her to get Ragna something comfortable to sleep on, I can have her make Siesta and Ragna in the same room. Provided I managed to get her maid contract given to Louise.

Final answer: There's a good reason why I don't use my phone to write, it's too small and has no line break button. So imagine how repetitive it was to write [Line Break] every time I want to change the scene.

Kotano-chan: Hello Kotano-chan, Happy New Year to you. Time surely flies fast, especially if you're busy. I hope you do better for this year's test girl, so ganbatte! I'm glad you liked the last chapter, while it was not as long as many other action scenes as much other action-based fanfic, I tried my best to increase the length. The whole 'Reconstruction of the Wheel' thing actually meant something for this whole story, trust me. If you want to know what it is, hint: something that Ragna stopped is coming back, but preventable. Although when you said Fouquet underestimated Ragna, I was not making that impression you know. I tried to make her know that Ragna is strong, but not strong enough to take her down. As for Derf's situation... let's just say Seithr are like drugs for him, but instead of making him addicted to it he just wants to get away from it as far as possible. And yes, Ragna got back his sword to use, that means... IMPOSSIBLE DUAL WEILDING! As for Rachel... I can promise you that you can see her more.

Now that's all done. I have a question for you readers.

 **Do you want a major divergence in this fanfic?**

I ask this question because from what I've gathered, a lot of fanfic tried to do this, only to either making the story too hard to read or just straight out ruin it. There were some that made it successful but that's because their readers were expecting it. I wanted to do this to give this fanfic a unique story, not just a straight out typical 'Louise summons X' story but one that when she summons someone else, a Butterfly Effect will trigger.

Now, you wonder which part of the story will cause the major divergence right? Well, it will happen around the end of season 1 and the first half of season 2. If by light novel timeline, it should be around from Volume 4 and 5 then I'll go back to the usuals in Volume 6. The major divergence will involve an early inclusion of two characters that I want to add, one from FoZ and the other from Blazblue. In this original arc, I want to explore the concept of discovering more things in Halkegenia as a whole. Of course, this divergence will cause some things to go somewhat differently.

If you guys don't want to, the inclusion of those characters will be delayed and I'll scrap the draft for it and continue following the canon events.

Also, next update will be an interlude so look forward to it.

Well, that's all I have to say and it's pretty late at my place already. Good night everyone, I hope you all have a good year.


	11. Interlude I

Disclaimer*

I do not own Familiar of Zero and Blazblue. They belong to their respective creators and publishers.

Without further ado. Let's begin.

* * *

 **Interlude I**

* * *

 **A.D 2220/06**

Seawater splashed against the rock formation of the one and only beach in Kagutsuchi. Yellow sand and blue sea can be seen everywhere, and children and adults relaxed on the beach enjoying their holiday even though it was spring.

However, on the edge of the beach was a cliff, stood a blond woman with pale skin, long blond hair tied into a single pigtail with a black ribbon, and red eyes. She wears Gothic Lolita fashion with a frilly black gown and jacket, red ribbon bow tie, a red bat symbol design cross from the front to the back on her dress, another red cross on her shawl and bottom half, black pony heel boots with a red cross, and a red ribbon on her right ankle. She also had a black umbrella with a red-eyed cat face on it and a red underside.

She stared at the ocean absent mindedly, waiting for her new 'servant' to return from his investigation.

"He is truly taking his own sweet time princess." The cat faced umbrella grumbled.

"I would incline to agree with you," the woman spoke,"However..."

 ***Smack***

She swung the umbrella on the floor with a force so powerful that it formed a small crack on it. While it didn't bend or had signs of visible damage (a miracle of its own since she tends to cause it bleed), the cartoonish swirling eyes were the evidence to prove it indeed hurt, to the point of fainting.

"May I need to remind you that we do not have any concrete clues to search the one who wields that sword beside that image that I have drawn from my memories. So your complaint will be null, do you understand Nago?"

"Yes, princess." The cat, now called Nago replied weakly.

After that, she merely returned to gazing that the ocean once again, continued to wait for her servant. In truth, she was getting impatient and tempted to return to her castle. But that would certainly catch the attention of some individuals that she doesn't wish to meet since her servant was quite closely related to one such individual.

She closed her eyes and went deep into her thoughts, trying to recall something related to 'him'. Who is 'he', she forgot but she knows he's a very important person in her life. So far, she only able to take in bits and pieces of different scenarios where she was with him, only to be forgotten immediately. However, there was one that she remembered, and that one shook her to the core.

 _'Thanks for everything up until now... And... Farewell.'_

"Sorry to take so long, the crowds were trying to stop me in the shop..."

She opened her eyes slowly and turned around with grace. In front of her was a boy with blue eyes and blonde hair (that was dyed black as evident by some streaks of yellow colored hairs), who wears a rather old Control Organization major coat over his short-sleeve white t-shirt. He also wears a pair of black jeans partnered with some blue and white sneaker. Around his waist were a katana and a blue colored pistol.

"*Sigh* I don't get what I did wrong about my disguise? I mean I even disobeyed my mom to dye my hair black." He mumbled to himself, which was, unfortunately, heard by the blond woman.

"You truly do not understand the true meaning of disguise, do you? Abandon that coat of yours and change it with something else might give you a different result, especially when it comes to ladies," the woman gave him a flat look which the boy with only tilting his head in confusion. That response only got her sigh in frustration but she quickly pushed that feeling away, for now.

It's a wonder how can such a clueless boy be the son of the 'Hero' and 'Justice'.

"What was the result of your search Saito?" The woman asked the boy.

"Still the same, no one had ever seen that sword before nor had any clue about it." Saito then frowned at the woman as his doubt surfaced once more. "Are you pretty sure the guy who used it existed at all? I mean that thing will definitely stick out like a sore thumb."

The moment Saito questions the existence of the person who wielded that sword, the woman glared at him with an intensity which caused him to back off. "I understand you are skeptical about his existence, but I swear on my name, Rachel Alucard, that the man who wielded that sword had indeed existed. Last I saw that very sword was on top of the mountain beside where the grave of a friend of mine was. And it was tied with one of my favorite ribbons."

"Okay, I get it. No need to get so mad," Saito quickly tried to diffuse her anger, which seemed to work. "But that begs the question, it was lost 20 years ago, right? Then you would've expected someone, even one random guy, to see it and spread his finding among his friends but no such thing happened."

"I suspected a grave robbery but it was plausible as the sword was not in any shape to be taken into battle once more and it held no value when given to a collector."

Saito pondered for a moment before he asked Rachel, "Besides the sword is there any other clues about that guy?"

She shooked her head, "Great, now we're back to square one. Again."

"You're suggesting to give up?" She frowned at Saito, "I'm somewhat disappointed now if you do that."

"When you put it that way, I suppose I am. We're like a headless chicken, running around without much of a clue about what you're trying to find. What's worse is that even you don't have much clue in the first place."

"So you are suggesting giving up this search. Very well, leave at once. I do not need a servant like you to help me anymore," she snarled at Saito, disappointed at him. So he dares to give up? She knew they have negative results everytime they asked someone but one thing she will never do was to give up this one search. It was too important to her. The loss of memories about 'him' was driving her crazy and if it was allowed any longer, she would become much madder than the Mad Dog himself. To think that she would trust that young man to help her in her search, that will be one of the biggest regrets she ever had. To think that he was the youngest and one of the best detectives in the entire world would decide to give up just like that.

She was disappointed.

The woman turned her back to the young man, ready to teleport away and continue her search on her own.

"Wait, Miss Rachel!" Saito quickly stopped her as she attempted to leave. "Just one more question, that's all."

She would leave him but might as well answer his inquiry. "What is it?"

"How do you know he existed?"

Saito's question managed to catch her attention as her body tensed up. That was a very good question, how did she know he existed? It was clear that she held no memories of 'him' but she knows 'he' existed. She stood still, pondered for a moment while Saito was worried about her behavior.

 **[Que song: Nights of Azure ost- Before Dawn Breaks]**

"It's... it's just a hunch."

"Eh?" A hunch? Her gut feeling was the proof of his existence?! Wait, if that was the case...

"I think I got it!" Saito's exclaimed, his face brightens up with optimism. _'This could work!'_

"You said it's your feeling that told you he existed right? Then all we have to do is using your intuition to find him."

"But that is absolutely illogical." Rachel countered.

"But that's the only way. You are the only one who has even the slightest clue about his existence and you're most likely the only one who knows him very well."

"... I see your point. Very well, I will try to find clues just by my intuition only."

Saito's expression brightens up even more and became excited about all the new possible clues to find their target.

"Alright, first question. What's your opinion about him, just say anything that pops out in your mind."

"An ingrate, a brute, and a fool through and through. He had no class and held no respect for anyone. ANYONE! EVEN YOUR FATHER! Not only that but he had the gall to not felt honored when he was graced with my presence but talk back to me. Also, he always cussed in every sentence he said to the point I would puke..." And Rachel continued to rant as she described her opinion about 'him'. Even though she only said the bad points, for some reason it held no malice but nostalgia.

"Okay, so he's basically sardonic, rude, and abrasive to anyone he comes across," Saito asked for confirmation.

"Exactly."

"He's a stereotypical anime delinquent!"

"I do not know what are you referring but I can conclude it into that phrase."

"Alright, moving on. How about his appearance?"

"Red, that's all I could remember about his appearance." She said with disappointment.

"At least we have some more clues to work with now," Saito gave Rachel a warm smile, happy that they made progress. "Alright, I'll try using my connections to find anyone matched your description. That way we can narrow down where to search."

"I trust you that we will be able to find 'him'?" She asked him hopefully.

"I'll be cautiously optimistic, I can't guarantee we can find him first try."

"Very well, I shall wait for your result. For now, I will return to my castle before Valkenhayn decides to find me."

With that, she teleported away from the beach and reached her castle. As she approached where she lives, a small, hopeful smile was plastered on her face.

She's getting nearer to him, she can feel it.

* * *

 **[Unkown time before Fouquet's heist]**

Osmond, the current headmaster of Tristain Magical Academy, finishing his own paperwork regarding everything related to the school, ranging from staff applications to property damages caused by experiments (mostly Colbert). Normally he would leave every single paperwork to anyone who can do it but since his current secretary was quite the 'hottie', he might as well treat her better to keep her around.

"Ah, I nearly forgot about this."

On the hands of Osmond was the maid's transfer form. In it, her increased income, who she was transferred to and every other detail were written in it. To think that the youngest Valliere, of all people, would willing to hire without any ulterior motives at all. Ah, he knows that many people fancy that maid but to suddenly hire her would instigate quite a nasty rumors about having an illicit relationship. The Valliere however, just stood up for her and wish to hire her immediately simply because she saw the abuse done to her? What an altruistic act that none had seen it coming at all. In fact, he never knew she was that altruistic. A sudden burst of courage perhaps? Or maybe because of her familiar since she actually spoke profanities when she was angered and before she even summoned her familiar, she was like everyone else, ignorant of the abuse of commoners. There has to be something that he was missing.

Ah, speaking of her familiar, he could tell those two had already well acquainted. During her summoning, the shock of her face had already spoken volumes how she never expected him to be summoned. That and she already knew his name the moment their eyes met each other. What was their relationship, he wondered? Lovers? Nah, the man seemed to be too old to be her lover and he could find no evidence to suggest such relationship at all. Old acquaintances? Most likely since the Valliere family tends to travel a lot whenever politics was involved. But that would beg the question of where had she found him and be such a good friend to him?

Ah, so many questions with too little answers. That doesn't include his rather odd dark magic that he managed to conjure. He knew dark magic well enough since he had encountered it a few times, mostly because of those dark creatures he saw back in his prime. Those creatures come in many shapes and forms, once such creature was a dragon and it can breath dark flames that burn even the flames of a square fire mage. They were terrifying but that was why there were many bounty hunters tried to hunt them as they reward quite handsomely. But to think a human could use such power, he could only imagine how powerful this individual was and how he managed to conjure it.

And now he also remembered that he forgot to ask that man where did he come from.

 ***BOOM***

"... I need a drink." There goes more of the school funds.

* * *

 **[During the chase]**

Tabitha had many questions that she wished she could answer without causing a series of headaches.

Firstly, how can a mage who uses dark magic be Louise's familiar? She had encountered a few creatures that were capable of using it, but the only humanoid ones were covered in that accursed magic so much that she rather call them wild monsters than human anymore and those monsters were so deformed that many would highly doubt they were human once. Just what happened to them?

Secondly, how strong was this man who was currently mounting her familiar with her? Depending on his strength she may need to do some precautions just to be safe.

Thirdly, how was she going make Kirche trying to stop rambling about trying to seduce that man!? He's clearly too celibate to be interested in her for Brimir's sake! TAKE A HINT ALREADY!

Anyway, thanks to the current situation, she would evaluate his strengths and weaknesses in battle. Hopefully, Fouquet could draw out all of his ability and she would make plans according to what she had observed.

Moments later, she deemed Ragna to be too powerful to be taken down by simple traps and precautions, so she decided to leave that alone and improvise when the time comes.

She hoped Joseph would never know Ragna's existence, but knowing that man... she feared the worst.

* * *

A/N

Happy Chinese (or Lunar for someplace) New Year everyone. Sorry for another short chapter but that was as far as I can fo right now.

Anyhow, as you can see I've more or less established a few things in this Interlude and showed the feelings of some people about Ragna. I'm not very sure did I do justice to their character but hey, I'm an amateur writer compared to many writers out there. Anyway, I promise I'll make up the short length with a much longer chapter for the next one. Anyway, time for the reviews answering.

RedBurningDragon: I might consider doing that.

marconator360: Well, thanks for your advice. I just hope whatever decision I've made will not turn you off from this story. I don't want the original arc to be outright bad but I also don't want to follow the cannon too much to be boring. Hopefully, when that day comes I'll deliver a good storyline for you to read.

BraveWolf13: 1 Vote for divergence then.

Kotano-chan: Hello there Kotano-chan, quite some time since I last update huh. My bad. Oh wow, I kinda scared of you now when you said you would go Yandere whenever the word 'Harem' was mentioned in Luito. *Gulp* At least that's non-canon so... thank Brimir? And I actually miss the times when Louise would just blow up Saito, good times really. So for the divergence thing, I just hope when the time comes I'm well prepared to deal with some backlashes by everyone.

ENDDRAGON369: Uh... sorry? I kinda screw it up, didn't I?

Apostle-of-Darkness: Glad you find it hilarious, but unfortunately for you, I won't make a TRL X ZNT crossover. For now, I guess since I did consider it once but scraped it.

hy6r1d60y: Glad you find it hilarious too, oh the irony of Rito is one of Saito's harem girls, hopefully, he realizes Riko was actually a 'he' someday. Oh wait, I didn't even make a story of that crossover anyway, why do I even bother. Now, I'm glad you noticed I mentioned Rachel in chapter 9. Will other Blazblue character appear? That's a secret~. As for when does it take place, I'm sure this interlude explains everything. As for how Ragna's sword appeared, it will more or less be explained by the next chapter.


	12. Chapter 8

Disclaimer*

I do not own Familiar of Zero and Blazblue. They belong to their respective creators and publishers.

Without further ado. Let's begin.

* * *

 _"How was she, doctor?" Karin, the Heavy Wind asked a man that looked like a typical Middle Ages Physician. He was introduced to the Valliere by one of her old colleagues as one of the best doctors around. Her husband stood beside her to understand the situation while both of her older daughters looked at the door that roomed the youngest Valliere._

 _"I'm truly sorry Mrs. Valliere but I have never seen these symptoms in all my life."_

 _"What is the meaning of this?" She sneered, "You, the best doctor **my** colleague could find, couldn't understand what is wrong with my daughter?!" It's a preposterous prospect to her, to think a doctor had never dealt with this situation before. While it was very irrational for a woman like her to even though about that, seeing her daughter in such a state pushed her maternal instinct to the limit._

 _"Calm down dear, we just need to find another capable doctor to understand these symptoms." Her husband, being the more rational one, attempted to calm his wife down. As worried as he is if he became just as bad as his wife the whole situation will turn for the worse._

 _Everyone suddenly heard Louise screamed bloody murder from her room and quickly ran into the room. And it was at that moment everyone wished they never did it._

* * *

The walk to headmaster's office was very unnerving to Louise, to be honest. While she may have gone there a few times in her earlier days of studying in this Academy that doesn't mean she would ever get used to facing the Headmaster. As lenient as that old man can be, there has to be a certain limit to his patients. But the others who followed her, however, were indifferent.

There were somethings interesting though, as Louise's hair was now tied by the black ribbon that Ragna had. The girl literally burst into rage and rant about how inappropriate Ragna's treatment of it. So, to save himself from margarine he chose to give her his new 'headband'. When she wore it during the morning, she felt like she became much closer to the younger version of her mother than before. Now if she has her mother's power level by default then she would become the 'Second Wind'.

When they arrived the entrance, she took a deep breath and steeled her mind then proceed to knock the door.

"You may enter," the headmaster beckons them.

 _Location: Headmaster's office_

They enter the room and saw Osmond and other staff members. Clearly, they arrived much earlier than them. Louise stood in the middle, with Ragna and Tabitha at her right side while Kirche on her left side. Everyone kept silent, no one dared to spoke up in such a tense atmosphere. The silence only broke when the headmaster caught everyone's attention with fake coughing.

"Now, I am sure many of you were aware of Fouquet's attempted heist for the Gaint Blade of Darkness." Everyone nodded, "Good, everyone is up to date. I shall get to the point then, all of you."

Louise and Kirche stiffened by the sudden attention they got while Tabitha remained stoic as ever.

Gently caressing each of the trio's heads, Osman said, "A job well done. I have requested the imperial court to confer upon you the title of Chevalier, I believe that we should have news of it soon. And since Tabitha already has the title of Chevalier, I have requested that she be given the Elven Medallion."

The trio's faces brightened up upon hearing the news.

"Really? But I and Louise barely did anything." Kirche said astoundingly but suddenly looked at Tabitha, "Hold on, Tabitha's a Chevalier?"

"Why yes, she is. And, you have done more than enough to deserve this title by simply finding Fouquet's attempted heist. If it is too much I may revoke it."

Kirche immediately shook her head and resign to accept it. Is this how lenient he is? Might as well take the opportunity!

Louise gazed at Ragna who was listless since they entered the office.

"Headmaster Osman, Ragna… won't get anything?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so. Because he's not a noble…"

Ragna merely snorted and replied, "I don't need anything, never gave a shit about it."

Headmaster Osman gently clapped his hands, ignoring the fact that Ragna cussed, and said, "I almost forgot, tonight's Ball of Frigg will resume as planned since we have stopped Fouquet's heist."

Kirche's face brightened up. "That's right. Let's forget about Fouquet and dance all night long!"

"The main attraction of the ball will be you three. So go get ready and dress up!"

The three bowed and left through the door until Louise stopped and found Ragna didn't move from his spot.

"You go first," Ragna told Louise.

Even though Louise frowned but still comply, she nodded and left the room.

Once everyone except Colbert left, Osman turned to Ragna and said, "You have something to ask me?"

Ragna nodded.

"Please ask. I'll try to answer your question to the best of my abilities. Even though I couldn't confer you a title, this is the least I can do to show my appreciation."

Immediately after, he asked Mr. Colbert to leave the room. Mr. Colbert, who had been waiting for Ragna to speak, was expressing displeasure as he exited the room.

After Mr. Colbert left, Ragna said, "That sword that you guys call Giant Blade of Darkness, it was originally mine and it's not supposed to be in this world."

Osman's eyes gleamed. "Originally from yours and not of this world?"

"I'm not from this world."

"Is this true?"

"It's true. I was transported to this world due to Louise's summoning. In fact, I'm surprised she managed to summon me in the first place since the place where I was stuck was literally impossible to reach."

"I see. If that's the case…" Osman squinted his eyes.

"The sword was a gift from my master. So, who was the person who brought it to this world anyway? Cause I swear I left it behind." As a memento mori.

Osman sighed and said, "The one who gave the Giant Blade of Darkness was my savior."

"Where is the person now? That person is definitely from the same world as me."

"He disappeared, and that was over thirty years ago…"

Ragna became dumbfounded, the only word that could come out of his mouth was, "What did you say?"

Osmond made a tired sigh, he continued. "Thirty years ago, while I was strolling inside the forest, I was attacked by a two-headed dragon. My savior used that sword, in its scythe form, to slay that dragon. Without effort too, I might add."

"Then he just disappeared?"

"Not before he gave me that sword. Now I think about it, he had a similar appearance as you do."

Ragna raised an eyebrow, "He did?"

Osmond nodded, "There are differences between you two of course. He wore a red cloak with a reverse black cross motif on the back. Besides that, I couldn't see any other features he has since it was covered by his cloak. Ah yes, the darkness that he conjured has red lightning around it! Lightning, something that only triangle mages can achieve!"

Ragna pondered what Osmond told him, he had never seen anyone with what he had described. The fact that the mysterious savior managed to use his Soul Eater like Drive that has red lightning around it sounds like a combined version of two different Drives. The only lightning based drive user he knows is a certain rabbit vampire. Just who the hell was that person anyway?

Osman held Ragna's left hand, "The runes on your hand…"

Ragna moved his hand away from Osmond and glared at the old man. "Don't touch me so suddenly! And I wanted to ask about that, too. The moment I touched any weapon I feel much powerful than before and I can use them as if it's at the back of my mind. What the hell," he raised his left hand, removed his gloves and show the runes, "is this?"

Osman pondered for a moment and said, "That is the runes of ' **Gandálfr** ', the legendary familiar."

"Gandálfr? The runes of the legendary familiar?" Ragna asked, clearly confused.

"Yes. Gandálfr was a legendary familiar who could use any weapon at will. That is most likely the reason that you fell much powerful than before."

"Then why the hell am I the legendary familiar?"

"I don't know." Osman quickly replied.

Ragna immediately looked at the runes, narrow his focus on it. If he's being chosen as the legendary familiar, then that means...

' _No, that's almost impossible. She's not even here to monitor this world anyway so how the hell am I being chosen as Centralfiction anyway. Unless..._ '

"Is that all the questions you have?" Osmond asked.

"Just one more to confirm something. Who made a contract with the legendary familiar?"

"The one who made a contract with Gandálfr was Founder Brimir, the one who founded Halkegenia and it's magic."

Ragna closed his eyes and he slowly trying to piece a theory based on the information he knew.

' _This world has Seithr but not as much as my world, then there is the fact that everyone's magic uses Seithrs as if they're using Ars Magus. Something's going on in this world, something that needs someone to become the Centralfiction even without Amaterasu Unit. Not me for sure, someone in this world and I might know who is it._ '

"Well, that's all old man," Ragna thanked Osmond and left the room, leaving the headmaster to sigh in exasperation.

"Youth these days, they have no manners."

* * *

 _Location: Ball Room_

On top of Alvíss Dining Hall, there was a great hall. That was where the ball was being held. Ragna leaned on the railings of the balcony and looked at the grand reception.

The students and teachers who were dressed grandly gathered around tables filled with exquisite food and chatted amongst themselves. Ragna arrived there through a flight of stairs leading up to the balcony. Seeing them, Ragna felt that he wouldn't fit in at all and therefore, decided not to enter. Besides, he's not a people person.

Next to Ragna were some food and a bottle of wine that Siesta had brought for him earlier. He poured one cup of the wine and turn to outside, gazing at the night sky.

"You like stargazing don't 'ya partner?" asked Derflinger who was leaning on the balcony.

"Well, it kinda reminds me of the days I spent back at home," Ragna said with a nostalgic smile and sipped on the wine. For as much as he's not a drinker, having these once in a while was quite luxurious. The night sky does remind him of Celica's final day and her final words.

* * *

 _Nodes of white light appeared on a young woman with long, auburn hair tied into a ponytail with a red ribbon, pale skin, and bright eyes that are described to be like soft, wet soil in color. She wore a plain, long-sleeved, white shirt with golden rimming across the collar and sides, with black and gold cuffs; the shirt itself only comes down to her hips and leaves her navel exposed while keeping her hips covered. The uniform also consists of a frilled black mini-skirt with a golden line crossing it horizontally; the skirt itself barely reaches her thighs and is held in place by a small golden buckle. Finishing her look, she wears a standard black cape with a golden lining that reaches the small of her back, and simple brown high-heels._

 _She stood in front of a small village church, staring at Ragna, his brother and the clone of their sister's back, smiling warmly like a mother at them as they walked._

 _"Noel, Jin, Ragna. I was really happy to see your world. I was fun being with all of you. Painful and sad things might happen. But you're all strong, kind, and good children. Don't look back, and don't stop. Just keep looking ahead, and walk forward."_

 _"Do your best, and don't lose."_

 _"Take care..." Her last words echoed to them, 'My children,' and those were most likely-no- definitely what she wanted to said._

* * *

Ragna felt like he was on the verge of crying but quickly pushed it back. He remembered how much pain his heart experienced that day to the point his voice cracked in sorrow.

"Just keep looking ahead, and walk forward," he reminded himself.

He heard the gate to the great hall opened and the guard shout "The daughter of Duke of La Vallière, Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière arrives!", so he turned around saw Louise. As soon as he saw her, he was awestruck.

Louise was dressed in a white evening gown with her long, strawberry blonde hair tied up into a ponytail. Her hands were covered by pure white gloves which adorned her grandeur. Her petite face along with her low cut evening gown made her sparkle like a gem.

After confirming that the guest had arrived, the musicians started playing music that was extremely soothing to the ears. All around Louise were males that were captivated by Louise's beauty asking for a dance with her. Before this, no one ever realized Louise's beauty and only thought of her as "Louise the Zero." Now, that same group of males were trying to win her heart.

The nobles started dancing gracefully on the dance floor. Louise turned down everyone's invitation for a dance, saw Ragna on the balcony and headed over. Louise stood in front of Ragna and placed her arms on her waist, "Looks like you're enjoying yourself," she said.

"Well, if you consider stargazing and reminiscing my past as 'enjoying myself' then yeah, I am."

Louise merely nodded and saw Ragna turned his back on her, continuing his stargazing. She moved beside him and joined his stargazing session. They stayed silent for a moment before Louise spoke again.

 **[Que OST: BlazBlue Central Fiction Ost- Schmaltz(unreleased)]**

"The sky's so beautiful," she said with a bright smile.

"I had the same feeling as you do when I looked at the night sky as a kid. Though I do not exactly remember how the whole thing went."

"I see, must have been fun before things went to hell right?"

"Yeah," Ragna turned to Louise. "You're the 'main attraction' of this ball right? Why aren't you dancing with those guys?"

"I don't have a dance partner," she replied quickly.

"Seriously? Even though there's a lot of people asked you?"

She waved her hand dismissively, "They're just trying to woo me because I'm the 'main attraction'. Don't see them treat me like that back when I'm the 'Zero'."

Ragna nodded, understand her point and return to stargazing. For a while, they enjoy the music played by the musicians and the peaceful silence until they heard footsteps from their back.

"My my, why aren't both of you enjoying the party?" Kirche asked.

Louise tilted her head and saw Kirche, Tabitha and, surprisingly, Longueville together. Kirche wore a red evening gown while Tabitha wore a black gown, with a plate of food that stacked on top of each other (she could only sweatdrop by the fact that those food were on the verge of falling down). Longueville seems to opt for a simple green ball gown, which complements her well.

"If you come over here and do the same thing as us you might find out why," Louise replied.

The girls went to the balcony and leaned at the railings, doing the same thing as the master-familiar duo did.

"Beautiful," Tabitha commented.

"Why did you come here Ms. Longueville?" Louise asked the secretary.

"Well, I just finished dancing with Mr. Colbert and wanted to find another partner for the next song. I just happen to have eyes on one," she smiled and extended her hand to Ragna, who raised an eyebrow.

"Me? I don't even know how to dance."

Longueville only kept on smiling at him. "You're in luck then Mister Ragna, I happened to be able to teach you. It's easy, trust me."

Ragna would really want to reject her offer, but he could see everyone was staring at him as if expecting him to accept.

' _Argh fine!_ '

He pushed himself off the railing and took the secretary's hand. "I'll have a dance with you this time, miss."

They went to the dance floor and the musician began their second song.

 **[End last OST and change to Log Horizon Ost 20]**

The moment the song starts, they began to dance. He stumbled once in a while and nearly stomp on Longueville's foot a few times, causing him to grow frustrated.

"Don't be too rigid, follow the rhythm of the song and go with the flow. Just relax," the secretary adviced.

"How am I suppose to relax when I know the person in front of me was someone I just beat?"

"Well, just think of me as an innocent secretary," she smiled 'innocently' at Ragna, who merely sighed and let his guard down. Not completely but enough to consider 'relax'. As the song continued, the times he tripped becomes lesser and lesser.

"You're getting good at this. And you said you don't know how to dance," Longueville complimented.

"It's almost like footwork," he replied. "Once I get it right, it just clicks."

Longueville giggled and impressed that he learned ball dance rather quickly. She can tell it was his first time, but to get the basics this quickly was an achievement on its own.

"Once you managed to learn the more advanced one I'm very sure you will be quite the Lady's Killer."

"The hell do you mean?"

"Well, the way you dance with me give quite the impression to the children," she turned her gaze to the balcony, which Ragna followed. He can see Kirche was jealous, evident by her pouting. Tabitha was just... being Tabitha and Louise just gave 'I'm so going to ship them soon' smile.

Ragna could only make a deadpanned face while Longueville giggled once more. "I don't know should I smack Louise or should I ignore it."

"I think it will be best to ignore those children. Afterall, they're still, well, children."

"Children huh..." Ragna muttered before making a relaxed sigh, cracking a smile. "I guess you're right about that."

"So, why did you spare me?" Longueville asked.

"Well, you said your sister has an orphanage to take care right?" She nodded, "I was an orphan with my siblings."

Longueville became curious but made sure she didn't falter her focus on the dance. "I don't really remember much of my childhood. All I remember was me and my siblings were saved from a lab and taken to a church far from a remote village. We were taken care of by the Sister who lived there and we pretty much lived quite a peaceful life. I took care of the cooking and hard labor, my younger brother, Jin, deals with doing the chores and taking care of my younger sister whenever I'm gone, my younger sister, Saya, was the youngest so she always does anything she wants."

"Sounds like a nice place to be," she commented.

"Yeah..." he said with a nostalgic smile. "A really nice place to stay."

"So you spare me because you sympathize with those orphans in Saxegotha?"

"One way to interpret it."

 **[End Ost]**

As soon as he finished those words, the music ended. They broke off their contact and went back to the balcony. Kirche pestered Ragna to dance with her but he declined it, returning to stargazing once more. He ignored Louise trying to stop Kirche from continuing pestering him and drifted his mind back to his world.

 _'I wondered how Jin and Noel are doing? I can bet that Jin's still part of NOL but Noel though, I guess she just wants to settle down after all the hell she went through.'_

"Now I think about it, I feel like I'm forgetting something," Ragna mumbled and he widened his eyes. _'WHAT THE HELL?! Why did I forget Saya's still on the other side?! She's all alone again!'_

"Ragna?" He turned to Louise, who looked at him worriedly. "Are you okay? You looked pale and sweating a lot."

"I- I guess I'm just that tired after the dance. Yeah, it has to be," Ragna wavered slightly when he realized he was panicking inside and momentarily put Saya to the back of his mind. He immediately excused himself back to Louise's room, not forgetting taking Derflinger, nearly running at the rate he's walking. Once he walked far enough, he slowed down to a stop took some deep breath to calm himself down.

"What the hell happened to me? The hell's wrong with my mind?!" Ragna shouted at no one but he just let it out. "I didn't consider Saya's well being at all! What kind of big brother am I abandoning his sister at a hell hole?!"

Angry tears actually came out of his eyes as he punched the wall. "Fuck," **BAM** "Fuck," **BAM** "FUCK!" He screamed.

He continued to breathe rigorously, before leaning his head on the wall he punched. "What the hell am I suppose to do now? I fucked the one thing I promised."

That night, everyone continued to celebrate their success while the Grim Reaper... no... Ragna beat himself over the fact he unintentionally left his 'sister' behind. He really had become much more emotional than before huh.

* * *

 _ **The Reaper was 'salvaged' by The Zero**_

 _ **Despair fell upon him as The Blue was left alone**_

 _ **A new world needs him, thus called upon him**_

 _ **What new hope and despair be found**_

 _ **What new blessing and curse will be cast upon**_

 _ **What new possibility can be made**_

 _ **Only the new Centralfiction can tell**_

 _ **Arc I- The Summoning**_

 _ **End**_

* * *

"Nii-sama... I'll wait for you like a good girl okay."


	13. Chapter 9

Disclaimer*

I do not own Familiar of Zero and Blazblue. They belong to their respective creators and publishers.

Without further ado. Let's begin.

* * *

It was a relatively peaceful morning in Tristain Magic Academy, the birds are chirping, the sun perfect and- Wait, this line was overdone already!

let's just get to the point.

 _Location: Vestri Court_

Ragna stood in the middle of the field, his eyes were closed and he held a wooden sword lazily. On the side, away from the designated battlefield, Siesta stood there nervously.

It was rather silent for a while and tense. That was until quick footsteps became much louder, getting closer to Ragna.

Louise swung her sword horizontally, trying to land a strike on him. Ragna would not allow that so he blocked it, but she knew this would happen.

' _Next would be..._ ' she thought and the moment Ragna made his move, it proved her assumption is true.

Ragna tried to disarm her by twisting the sword then hit her wrist by swinging upward, but she immediately retracted her hand and avoid the upward swing. Right after Ragna missed, she pushed forward to stab him with her wooden sword. The Reaper moved his upper body, dodging with minimal movement, then swung his wooden sword downward.

Louise ducked and-

 ***Pak***

She was too slow to dodge thus landed on the ground roughly. She turned around and found Ragna already pointed his wooden sword at her neck.

They stayed silent for a few tense moments before Ragna removed the sword from her neck, a somewhat proud smile flashed at her. She huffed as she stood up, displeased that she lost to Ragna once more.

Granted, he's her mentor in close combat and he has more experience than her.

"Cheer up, you did well just now. Not much people know when to pull back their hands if their opponent tried to disarm them," Ragna said, trying to cheer her up.

"We've been doing this for the past few days," she picked herself up and dusted her pants. She currently wears her uniform but with a few alterations, she wears black pants that she bought ages ago and she forgoes her cloak. "I don't feel like I've been progressing much," Louise said dejectedly.

"That's from your point of view, I can tell you definitely improved every single day. It just takes time to see the overall difference on your side."

Louise sighed and frown, "I guess I'll take up your word for it. I'll go get change and ready for today. See you later." She began to walk away from Ragna, going towards the student tower with Siesta following on her back, offering her a drink.

"Is this how that old cat feels sometimes?" Ragna muttered to himself, frowning.

* * *

It has been a week since the attempted heist and everything went back to normal. Well, as normal as it could get with Ragna being included in the mix. Siesta had her contract officially under Louise's name and the master-familiar pair finally had a room with two beds. The moving was easy since all they need to do was moving her books and clothing.

Though it didn't stop Kirche from pestering them.

With Louise asking the staff to make sure prepare food for Ragna every day, they get to eat together in the dining room. It garnered some odd looks but they ignored it most of the time. Though occasionally Ragna would go to the kitchen to have a small chat with the staff.

Then there was their daily training, which consisted of stamina building and close-combat training. Every morning Ragna and Louise would wake up as early as possible to start their training regimen. Usually, they would start with running laps, then they either continue with hand-to-hand combat or sword training. Once they have done their training, they went off their own ways.

Right now, Ragna walked through the school hallways, feeling slightly bored that he has nothing to do. Back when he was on the run, he has to constantly be aware of his surroundings, never let his guard down. But now he is in another world, without having a bounty on his head made him feel somewhat alienated. But alas, he has to get used to this.

"Oh, hello there Mister Ragna," a familiar voice called him out. Ragna turned around and found it was Longueville who called him out. She quickens her pace to walk side by side with Ragna and gave him a smile.

"Are you perhaps busy right now?" The secretary asked for no particular reason, a common courtesy on her part.

"Nah, just bored out of my mind actually."

Longueville perked up on that reply and looked at Ragna, slightly dumbfounded. "Bored? I never pegged you as someone who can be bored."

"Well, I guess it's because how I used to live," Ragna shrugged and continued walking with Longueville.

"If you are bored then I suppose you wouldn't mind accompany me for a moment?"

The Grim Reaper weigh his decision right after she requested him. On one hand, he would make Louise worried about him suddenly disappear. But since he was bored out of his mind, might as well do something instead of walking around wasting time. So he accepted Longueville's offer and they went off to her destination.

* * *

 _Location: Classroom_

Currently, it was Mister Pi the one who teaches the second year about Barrier Magic.

"Barrier is one of the main forms of defensive magic that we use every day, especially in the military," Pi started. "It helps us to defend an incoming attack, especially against fatal attacks."

Louise, while seeming attentive, actually tuned the lecture out since she had already finished reading the book about Barrier Magic. She studied extensively about it and pretty much understood it's content. Kirche was bored and mind her own business, surprisingly didn't get caught by the lecturer. Tabitha also minded her own business, disguising her novel with the textbook.

"Now, class," Mister Pi brought the attention of the class, "Who would like to volunteer for explaining how Barrier Magic works?"

The lecturer looked around the class but no one raised their hand. With a sigh, the lecturer points at Louise. "Miss Valliere, would you mind explaining it?"

Louise nodded, internally disappointed that no one did it. ' _Is everyone that unfamiliar with this basic thing?_ ' Louise though as she stood up.

"Barrier Magic involves the usage of our willpower (Seithr, she corrected it in her mind) to produce a defensive shield in front of the caster. Depending on the size of the barrier, the larger it is the more willpower it requires to conjure. Then each barrier can have special effects depending on the caster's Mage Rank and Elements they had. For example, if the mage is a Dot Fire mage, they can conjure a Barrier commonly known as Flame Wall. Its effect is burning down or evaporates any incoming projectiles or anyone who got too close to the caster," Louise explained.

"What if the caster is a multi-element?" Mister Pi asked.

"If the caster is a Line multi-element, it creates some interesting -Fire creates a stronger form of Flame Wall, Flame Gate. Fire-Water creates Mist Zone, which is the weakest barrier but has the most utility. Fire-Wind creates Storm Blaze, a much powerful but harder to control Flame Wall. Fire-Earth creates Magna Testa, a very dangerous barrier for both the user and opponent," Louise replied.

Louise took a breath and continue explaining Barrier Magic.

"Then we move on to the Triangle Class Barrier. Fire-Fire-Water creates Aer Calidus, Fire-Water-Water creates Scald Zone..." Louise continued to explain the mechanics of barrier magic. Once finished, the lecturer praised her and Louise sat back down, going back to her own mind.

It was that moment she immediately wondered one thing.

' _I wonder what's Ragna doing now?_ '

* * *

 _Location: City of Tristain_

"Achoo!"

"Are you sick Mister Ragna?" Longueville asked Ragna.

"Nah, I feel like someone's talking about me, Ragna brushed her question off. "Anyway, why are we here?" Even though he accepted her request, he still does not know her agenda at all. In fact, she kept it a secret for some reason.

"Like I said. Patience, good sir," Longueville shut his question down once more, making him grumble under his breath about 'cryptic ass'.

They walked around the busy street, people bustling around buying groceries and other various necessities and wants. Ragna noticed some people seem to check on Longueville, which he responded by subtly blocked their view. Those people seem disappointed... even the girls?

He will not question that at all.

"We are here."

Ragna immediately looked away from the crowd and saw their destination. As soon as he laid his eyes on it, he looked deadpanned.

It's a tailor shop called Fabric Peagant. It looked just like any other shop in the streets, the only difference was that there were two large windows showing their male and female merchandise. The building doesn't look too fancy, but Ragna felt slightly overwhelmed by it.

"This is the place? A tailor shop?" Ragna couldn't help but be asking that. Her clothes seem fine and she doesn't seem to be someone who wants many clothes.

Longueville didn't respond but just casually stroll in, so Ragna was forced to follow her. Once they went inside the building, they were greeted by one of the tailors in the shop.

"Welcome!" The person who greeted them was a spiky, blond-haired man. He dressed in a brown shirt and white pants, with sewing needles and other sewing tools stuffed in the breast pocket. The man looked fairly young and he was not much taller than Longueville, shorter than Ragna. The man also had a pair of hazel colored eyes and a monocle on his left eye, for some reason.

"How may we help you, sir and madam?" The man asked with a level of professionalism. Ragna deducted that he must have recited this line many times before.

"I would like you to fix this man's coat," Longueville sa-

"Wait? Fix my coat?" Ragna couldn't understand why... I mean his coat was fairly okay.

"What have you done to your coat?!" The tailor shouted at Ragna. Now he seriously looked at it, it still looks as bad as after he went through the gate. It is all somewhat thorned up but it was fixable, just need some effort.

"The way it was made is nearly masterful and those materials must've been hard to made and those metal plates... I can't evaluate them but still! You manage to tear this masterpiece up in a scuffle?!"

' _Scuffle he said... I really don't think Susanoo would call our fight that and I prefer to call that life-and-death situation,_ ' Ragna though internally as the tailor examines his coat.

"Well, like he said Mister Ragna, your coat is really torn up. I'm surprised that Miss Valliere hasn't proposed you about fixing it."

The truth of the matter was that Ragna and Louise couldn't really find the time to do it. They were busy with different things that it just never cross their mind somehow.

"Anyways," the tailor spoke. "Sir, if you mind taking off your coat so that I can repair it for you?"

Ragna did as the tailor instructed and took off his coat, fully revealing his black hakama. Once the tailor took his clothes, he felt the fabric of the coat and checked it's condition. The tailor left the counter for a moment and came back with a quill and paper. He wrote some things down before facing both of the customers.

"Well, I think I could finish repairing it in two days. That would be six New Gold," the tailor told them. Ragna nodded and instinctively put his hand into his pocket, only to realize he doesn't have money with him.

Thankfully, Longueville took out her own money and paid for Ragna. The tailor counted the amount and accepted it. With that, they left the shop.

"Hey uh... thanks for that," the Grim Reaper said with an earnest gratitude. If not for her he would be really screwed.

"Oh, there is no need for that. This is for you sparing me last week," Longueville replied. While that amount is nothing, this is the least she could do.

* * *

 _Location: Tristain Academy Entrance_

By the time Ragna and Longueville came back to the Academy, the sun was setting down. As soon as the carriage they rode stopped, Ragna was the first one to leave the cart then followed by the secretary.

"Well, today is a fun day," Longueville commented.

Ragna sighed, which Longueville arched an eyebrow and look at him curiously. "Why are you disappointed?"

"That coat is something gifted to me, so leaving it to someone feels... unnatural for me."

"Relax, it just two days. You can get it back after that," she reassured Ragna, but still felt odd that he would get very sentimental with his coat. Granted, it's a masterpiece (the tailor's words, not hers) so maybe parting with it made him felt uncomfortable.

"Ah well, I think I'll go back to my room. See ya," Ragna went to his own way, waving at Longueville and she returned it.

* * *

 _Location: Hallway_

Ragna expected nothing to happen on the way back his room, but alas, the world decided to screw with him again.

This time, however, was something he never expected to happen.

Here was he, standing in front of a scantily clad-no, more like near naked- Kirche with the door closed behind him. He wore a deadpanned face while Kirche just looked at him seductively.

Ragna could only say one thing in this situation.

"What the hell is going on?"

* * *

A/N

Finally... done... but I'm late for one day...

So... what really happened to me? Well, I got college, enough said. Also, if anyone of you wondered why I didn't answer any review question, that is because I want to make it that way. I think it feels a bit special that way. What do you all think? This chapter is a little filler-ish and as you can see I kind of skipped the Barrier Magic in the story itself cause it will become a text wall. But I will give a list down below. Also, I planned to put this story in Wattpad, it should be uploaded during May 2nd or 3rd.

Anyway, I'll answer both chapter's review questions so here goes!

Kotano-Chan: Hello there, how's my favorite reader doing? I've been fine so don't worry too much. I understand the pain of finals, it always happens to us. Heck, as of this writing I'm in a crunch time for my term finals. As for the internet, I also understand it. Now, to the actual reviews. I do that because it's a natural reaction for everyone, I mean who wouldn't be curious about an unknown person? The clues part will continue in the future, trust me. Tabitha's reaction felt a bit out of character but that's what I can think how she reacts. I'm glad you like Louise and Ragna's interaction. Whenever I wrote them I always keep in mind Louise has influenced by Ragna. Longueville and Ragna "ship" is just a silly thing Louise and the girl's doing. You know, teenagers? Now, about the headband thing. Remember the ribbon tied to Ragna's sword when he got it back? Yeah, he tried to make that ribbon into his headband, only ended with Louise take it from him for his treatment.

Kamecolin: Well, it is a little sad.

Crimson Grave: I'm glad the story still quite focused, for you.

With that, the Barrier Magic list under there. Good night.

* * *

 **Fire- Flame Wall**

 **Fire+Fire- Flame Gate**

 **Fire+Water- Mist Zone**

 **Fire+Wind- Storm Blaze**

 **Fire+Earth- Magna Testa**

 **Fire+Fire+Fire- Flame Blockade**

 **Fire+Fire+Water- Aer Calidus**

 **Fire+Water+Water-Scald Zone**

 **Fire+Fire+Earth- Heat Geography**

 **Fire+Earth+Earth- Magna Murum**

 **Fire+Fire+Wind- Ventus Calidus**

 **Fire+Wind+Wind- Typhoon Blaze**

 **Water- Liquid Bind**

 **Water+Water- Aqua Chain**

 **Water+Wind- Scutum Glacies**

 **Water+Earth- Mud Grab**

 **Water+Water+Water- Aqua Prison**

 **Water+Water+Wind- Sprout Chain**

 **Water+Wind+Wind- Glacies Murum**

 **Water+Water+Earth- Sand Stick**

 **Water+Earth+Earth- Mud Capture**

 **Earth- Stone Defense**

 **Earth-Earth- Murum Ferruem**

 **Earth+Wind- Dirt Blinder**

 **Earth+Earth+Earth- Pectus clypeus**

 **Earth+Earth+Wind- Granite Rampage**

 **Earth+Wind+Wind- Dust Eclipse**

 **Wind- Breeze Stop**

 **Wind+Wind-Flante Tempestas**

 **Wind+Wind+Wind- Turbo Dis**

 ** _Note: No one had ever pulled off a Square-class Barrier since Triangle is very dangerous already. And I know my naming sucks but give me a break._**


	14. Chapter 10

Disclaimer*

I do not own Familiar of Zero and Blazblue. They belong to their respective creators and publishers.

Without further ado. Let's begin.

* * *

 _Location: Kirche's Room_

Ragna pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling the margarine rising up. How did he even got himself into this situation?

Let's recap.

* * *

 _Ragna was walking back to Louise and his new room. On the way, he noticed something seems to be in his way. The thing in question was a lizard with red scales around its body and its tail was on fire. Its size was about a toddler, too big for a normal lizard._

 _Ragna immediately recognized it as Kirche's Salamander, Flame, which she bragged about during their first meeting. To be honest, he already more or less decided that he should put Kirche at arm's length, like how he usually treat people, because he found her extremely annoying. While their age seems to be similar ( **read: he has no official age** ), he honestly thinks she's not attractive, childish and a tad bit too forward for him._

 _He decided to ignore it but Flame croaked at him, which he also ignored but it slowly becomes more annoying as the lizard follows him._

 _The Grim Reaper turned around with a scowl, "What the hell do you want? Shoo!" He made the 'shoo' gesture to emphasize his point. The Salamander didn't give up though, as it croaked at Ragna with more frequency. This made Ragna become more annoyed and he tried to walk away. Keyword: 'Tried'._

 _The Salamander suddenly tackled him from behind, which knocked him off balanced. Right after he dropped on his ass, the Salamander bit his clothes and dragged the poor guy at an alarming speed all the way to Kirche's room._

 _'_ _Mission accomplished_ ' _will be the Salamander's thoughts... if only the outcome becomes more disastrous than what it thought it would be._

* * *

Now, here he is, looking at Kirche who was scantily dressed trying to seduce him. She gestured him to come to her, which he didn't respond to since he tired open the door that is behind him.

Unfortunately, it's locked. The worst part was Kirche, whose now slowly and seductively, crawling towards Ragna, was smirking when she heard the attempted opening of the door.

"Darling~~, I've waited for this long to have this chance and you want to blow it away?" Kiche said in her most seductive possible voice, each step she made caused Ragna to become more nervous. He planned to simply open the door and make a run for it, but it seems to be thrown out of the window.

That doesn't mean he ran out of options, and it was probably the worst possible option but what choice does he have. Its either his chastity or start a list of damaged goods.

Kirche was inches away from Ragna to touch her body with his. She planned this throughout the week since the heist and there was no way she will let this fail. No one will be able to enter nor exit since the door being locked with her Lock spell, no one will interrupt her because she threw away all the 'appointments' she made. This is perfect! Her heart beat faster each second passed and she slowly closes her eyes, ready to lock her lips with his.

That was until the door that was supposed to be locked suddenly fell off, like those in a comedy show.

The moment the door landed on the floor, Ragna took it as his cue to leave. He sprinted away from Kirche before she could even react. She awkwardly stood there and took a moment to realize what just happened.

"...This is supposed to be perfect."

* * *

 _Location: Louise's room_

Louise paced around the room trying to figure out why Ragna took so long to come back. Normally he would be back by the twenty-first hour of the day, but right now it's the twenty-second hour. She wouldn't mind Ragna being late for any good reason, preferably being with someone (except that Zerbts Harlot). But what was worrying was the fact Ragna had no 'friends' beside her and Siesta, two of the closest people he had, so him staying out made all her alarm bells ring.

Louise immediately turned around the moment she heard the door slammed open and close in a matter of second. She saw Ragna, without his signature coat, locking the door behind him and push his back against the door, as if he is body blocking it.

After a few seconds, he relaxes and slumped on the floor, making a sigh of relief. He looked like he went through a rather tiring day, one that could probably drain one's mental strength.

"What happened? Where is your coat?" Louise asked. It felt odd to see him without his signature though.

"I... nearly got raped by that red-head," Ragna simply answered. He can tell her the details later. Right now, he just wants to stay away from Kirche.

"R-raped?!" Louise said with a flustered expression, "H-how?! I mean, give me all the details how it happened!"

Ragna sigh once again, this time because he felt the incoming margarine. He might as well let this be done so he recalled everything. Once he finished, Louise sat on her bed and huffed.

"Really? You got tackled by a Salamander of all things. I expected something better from you," she chastised Ragna.

"Hey, I didn't expect that little shit doing that on me. At least I managed to get my ass back here."

She shook her head and decided to let this topic drop. Just as she was going to lay down on the bed, the room residence heard the door knocking. The knocks were very orderly, two long ones then three short ones. Ragna raised an eyebrow and was hesitant to open it. But Louise ordered him to open it.

So he opened the door, expecting a red-head. Instead, he saw someone wearing cloak who got into the room quickly.

* * *

It wasn't easy to sneak into this place, especially the fact that there were guards looking after the front gate and the place was not in walking distance. But thank the Founder that she managed to do it without alerting anyone. But then there was one problem.

She couldn't find where does her friend stay now. From the most recent letter she got, her friend had moved to somewhere on the third floor so that her new Familiar can sleep in a comfortable bed. She can't ask for help either since it would expose her. Actually, which part of the dorm was sh-

She nearly got hit by someone who dashed by her in panic. His appearance was unique, never had she seen that appearance. He is a young adult with white spiky hair and he wore a black shirt with three red belts and also several belts covering his right arm. He wears a pair of black gloves with a red shell on the backs of the hands and he wore some strange pants.

She looked at the man quickly slammed opened one of the doors on the third floor and then closed it in a matter of a second. She was curious about why such a person who was clearly older than the students went into one of the student's room. Perhaps... he's someone's secret lover?! No, it's too ridiculous and stops moving your thoughts to impure zone! Maybe he's the Familiar that she talked about in her letters. Yes, that's the only explanation. Totally not the one that she assumed before.

So she went to the door where the man went into and wanted to knock on it, that was until she heard a familiar voice.

"... give me all the details how it happened!"

She knew that voice, which belongs to her one and only best childhood friend. Since her... Familiar she suppose... was explaining something, she would not interrupt this moment. Once the Familiar finished recalling what happened, she took it as the cue to announce her presence. She knocked on the door in an orderly manner, one which was very nostalgic for her. She waited for a moment before it opened and she slipped past the white-haired man.

As soon as she got into the room, she was met with a wand in the face, ready to hit her.

"Who are you?" Her best friend said. As much as she felt slightly hurt (yes, slightly), she knew this would be the natural reaction. She made a 'shhh' gesture and took out a staff from her black cape, lightly waving it while chanting a short spell. Glowing powder filled the room.

"A silencing spell?" Louise asked. She nodded and replied, "There might be extra ears and eyes around."

After making sure the room had no magical ears and no peeping holes, she slowly removed her veil and reveals a rather beautiful girl that could capture anyone's heart. She has short purple hair and teal blue eyes. Her face was perfectly shaped, one that was both cute and beautiful, which can make any girl jealous.

Louise immediately became pale and place her wand down. Once she did that, Louise frantically went down on her knees. Ragna didn't know what to do and just stood there, with confused what was going on.

The purple haired girl coolly, and gently spoke. "It has been a while, Valliere."

Right after she said that the girl looked like she had been overcome with emotion, and hugged the kneeling girl.

"Oh, Louise, Louise, my dear Louise!" She said with overwhelming emotions.

"This won't do, Your Highness. Coming to a humble place like this..." Louise said ceremoniously. Which peg Ragna think that this... Highness was someone of importance and seem to be very close to Louise. In fact, was she a princess or something?

"Oh! Louise! Louise Francoise! Please stop acting so formally! You and I are friends! We are friends, are we not?"

"I am not worthy of such kind words. Your Highness," Louise replied with a steely, strained voice. All this happened while Ragna just stared at the pair of beautiful girls embracing each other.

"Stop that, please! Neither the Cardinal, my Mother, or those greedy court aristocrats who buzz around wearing friendly faces are here! Oh, don't I have any friends who will open up to me? If even Louise Francoise, my old friend whom I've missed dearly, acts so distant, I would just die!" The princess said grandiose.

"Your Highness..." Louise lifted her face.

"When we were little children, didn't we get together and chase butterflies at the palace courtyard? And got all muddy?"

With a shy face, Louise answered, "...Yes, and Madam La Porte the chamberlain told us off for getting our clothes so dirty."

"Yes! That's right, Louise! We were arguing over those puffy cream cakes, and ended up having a real scuffle! Oh, whenever we fought, it was me who always lost. You would grab my hair, and I'd just start crying." Ragna's face immediately turned into a shocked expression, but it went unnoticed.

"Not at all, Princess achieved victory on at least one occasion," Louise said, looking sentimental.

"You remembered! Looking at the two of us, one could call that battle the Siege of Amiens!"

"That was when we were fighting over a dress in Princess' bedroom, wasn't it?"

"Yes, in the middle of our 'Make-Believe Royal Court', we ended up fighting over who would play princess! And it was my blow to your stomach, Louise Francoise, that successfully decided it."

' _WERE YOU THAT VIOLENT KID?!_ ' Ragna shouted in his thoughts.

"I fainted in the presence of Princess," Louise said with a grimace and a smile.

After that, the two of them exchanged glances and broke out in laughter. Ragna, perplexed, just kept watching them in that state. The princess may have looked like a lady, but she was actually a tomboy.

"That's more like it. Louise. Ah, I'm getting so nostalgic, tears are coming out."

"So, who is she and how do you guys know each other?" Ragna asked as Louise closed her eyes in reminiscence before answering.

"Ragna, this is Princess Henrietta de Tristain. I had the pleasure of serving as Princess' playmate back when we were children and our mothers were best friends. That was how I get to know her."

After that, Louise turned back to Henrietta.

"But, I am deeply moved that Princess would remember such things... I thought you'd already forgotten about me."

The princess gave a deep sigh and sat down on the bed.

"How could I forget? During those times, every day was fun. There was nothing at all to worry about," Henrietta said with sadness in her voice.

"Princess?" Louise looked worried as she peered into Henrietta's face.

"How I envy you. Freedom is such a wonderful thing, Louise Francoise."

"What are you saying? You're the royal princess, are you not?" Louise said in a perplexed voice.

"A princess born in her kingdom is like a bird being raised in a cage. You go here and there on your master's every whim..." Henrietta said, looking lonely as she gazed at the moon outside the window. She then held Louise's hands and gave a sweet smile before speaking.

"I... I'm getting married."

As soon as she said that, Louise stayed silent for a moment.

"You have my congratulations." She felt the sadness in that tone so she spoke in a subdued voice.

It was at that moment that Henrietta realized she still hasn't talked to Ragna, even though Louise talked to him.

"O-oh, I'm very sorry for not recognizing your presence. Might I know who might you be?"

"Oh right, I need to introduce you to my..." Louise glanced at Ragna, who had a glint in his eyes, and quickly think of something else. "My mentor, who just so happened to be my Familiar," OH BY THE FOUNDER SHE COULD FEEL THE ILL INTENT!

"Ah, I see. Well, Louise's Mentor, I am Henrietta de Tristain as Louise Francious had introduced."

"Ragna, no surname," he semi-introduced himself. While 'The Bloodedge' was something he cherishes, he won't explicitly say anything about it unless he wants to create misunderstandings, just like last time it happened to Louise.

"O-oh, I see. Nice to meet you then Sir Ragna," Henrietta bowed, which Ragna did it instinctively. He won't really do this for anyone but hey, she's polite so no reason to be an ass to her.

Once she introduced herself, Henrietta gave off another sigh.

"Princess, what happened?" Louise asked worriedly.

"No, it's nothing. Forgive me, oh, I'm so ashamed of myself. It's not something I should tell you... but I am just so..." The princess fumbled around, unable to decide whether to tell Louise about her predicament.

"Please tell me. What troubles are they that cause Princess, as cheerful as she is, to sigh like this?"

"...No, I cannot tell you. Please forget I said anything. Louise."

"I will not! Didn't we use to talk about everything? Princess was the one who had called me a friend. Won't you share your worries with your friend?"

After Louise spoke, Henrietta gave off a cheerful-looking smile.

(And that is how Louise begins to put her foot into her mouth. Unfortunately for her, Ragna couldn't see it.)

"You've called me a friend, Louise Francoise. That makes me so happy."

Henrietta nodded her head in determination and began to talk.

"You must not speak to anyone about what I am about to tell you now."

After that, she gave a quick glance in Ragna's direction.

"Should I step outside?" The Reaper asked.

Henrietta shook her head and replied, "A mage and her familiar are as one. I see no reason for you to leave."

With a sad tone, Henrietta started talking. "I am to marry the Emperor of Germania..."

"Germania, you say?!" Louise, who hated Germania (and having a personal grudge against a certain redhead), spoke out in astonishment. "That country of barbaric upstarts?!"

"Yes. But it can't be helped. It must be done to solidify our alliance."

Henrietta then explained the political climate of Halkeginia to Louise.

There was an insurrection among the nobles of Albion, and it looked like the Royal Family would soon be overthrown. If the rebels won, then the next thing would be the invasion of Tristain. To defend against this, Tristain was looking to form an alliance with Germania. For the alliance's sake, it was decided that Princess Henrietta would be married into the Germanian Imperial Family...

"So that's why..." Louise said with a depressed voice. It was clear from Henrietta's tone that she did not desire this wedding either.

"It is alright. Louise, I have long since abandoned the notion of marrying the one whom I love," Henrietta said somberly.

"Princess..."

"Those two-faced Albion nobles do not want Tristain and Germania to become allies. Two arrows are easier to break when they are not tied together," Henrietta murmured.

"...Therefore, they have been searching frantically for anything that would interfere with the marriage.

"And they've found something..."

Ragna didn't know anything about the alliance or Albion, but in any case, it seemed like it was something serious. ' _Probably as serious as Kagura's rebellion_.' Ragna though.

"Then this is about that thing that could get in the way of Princess' wedding?" Louise asked, her face looking pale, and Henrietta gave a regretful nod.

"Oh, Founder Brimir... please save this unfortunate princess..."

Henrietta covered her face with her hands and crumbled on the floor. Ragna felt a tad bit annoyed at the dramatic gesture but let it slide for now. Mostly because those who are that grandiose are often grating his nerves to no end.

"Tell me, please! Princess! Just what is it that could interfere with the princess' wedding?" Louise, like she had also been infected, rattled off with an agitated look. With both hands still on her face, Henrietta looked like she was in pain as she began muttering.

(She just have to push it to her knees.)

"...It is a letter that I had written some time ago."

"A letter?"

"Yes. If those Albion nobles get their hands on it... they would probably send it forward to the Germanian Imperial Family as soon as they could."

"What kind of letter could that be?"

"...That I cannot tell you. But if the Germanian Imperial Family were to read it... they would never forgive me. The marriage would fall through, and with it, the alliance with Tristain. Then Tristain would stand alone against the strength of Albion," Henrietta said it with a tint of red on her face.

Louise gave a gasp and seized Henrietta's hands.

"Where would that letter be? The letter that would bring crisis to Tristain!" The pinkette exclaimed.

Henrietta shook her head.

"It is not with us. The truth of the matter is, it is already in Albion."

"Albion! But then...! Is it already in the enemy's hands?"

"No... the one who holds the letter is not with the rebels of Albion. As the conflict between the rebels and his kinsmen unfolded, Prince Wales of the Royal Family..."

"Prince Wales? The Prince Valiant?" Now that was weird. Why would a letter that was sent to the prince be such a key item to this problem?

Henrietta bent back and laid down on the bed.

"Oh, it's a disaster! Sooner or later, Prince Wales will fall captive to the rebels! And when that happens, the letter will come to light! And everything would be ruined! Ruined! Without an alliance, Tristain would have to take on Albion by itself!" cracks can be heard on Henrietta's voice, as she was on the verge of crying.

Louise held her breath. "Then, Princess, the favor that you're asking of me..."

Henrietta quickly sat back up and frantically swinging her hands.

"Impossible! It's impossible, Louise! How could I be so terrible? It's all confusing! When I think about it, I couldn't ask you to do such a dangerous thing as to go to Albion while this conflict between the nobles and the royalists is unfolding!"

"What are you saying? Be it the kettles of hell, or into the jaws of a dragon, if it's for Princess' sake, I'll go anywhere! There is no way the third daughter of the House of la Vallière, Louise Françoise, could overlook such a crisis for Princess and Tristain!" Louise quickly rebuked.

(How about half of the body?)

Louise kneeled down and lowered her head reverently.

"Please leave this matter to us, the ones who have stopped Fouquet the Crumbling Earth," she said it full of confidence.

"Correction, it's me," Ragna said it but it fell on deaf ears.

"So you will help me? Louise Francoise, you are a dear friend!"

"Of course! Princess!" Louise grasped Henrietta's hands, and as the former spoke heatedly, the latter gave in and started crying.

"Princess! I, Louise, forever friend of the princess, will be your confidante! Have you forgotten my vow of eternal loyalty?"

"Ah, the loyalty. This loyalty and sincere friendship! I'm deeply moved. I will never forget through life your loyalty and friendship! Louise Françoise!"

Ragna pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation at the sight. It was like a conversation between two Bang Shishigami. BANG! The loudest person he ever met! One was bad enough so having two of him would spell doom to the world. ' _And that is something I would rather not see_.'

"So Louise," Ragna said, getting her attention, "Going to that Albion place in the middle of a war is fine, but we need to prepare first you know."

"Oh yeah, you where did your coat go?" Louise asked.

"Oh, the secretary brought me to a tailor to fix it. They say it will be done in around two days."

"I see," Louise made a thinking pose before she turned to Henrietta. "How urgent is this task Princess?"

"I've heard that the nobles of Albion have managed to drive the royalists into a corner of the country. It will just be a matter of time before they are defeated."

"And the mission is to have us go to Albion, find the Crown Prince of Wales, and get the letter back, Princess?"

"Precisely Louise Francoise."

Louise's face looked serious as she bowed to Henrietta. "Then please give us three days to prepare."

Henrietta nodded and approved it. "Very well, I give you three days, since during that time I shall be here officially."

The princess then turned her attention to the Reaper. "Mister Ragna."

"Yeah? What is it?" Ragna immediately replied.

"Please keep taking care of my most precious friend." And then she gently held out her hand was turned upwards. What sort of gesture was this? It was nagging at the back of his mind but he couldn't recall it.

Because of that, Ragna could only stare at the gesture with a confused expression. Louise, who noticed it, immediately explained.

"She's basically giving all her trust and rewarding your loyalty right now. When she offers her hand, it means you can kiss her. Not on the lips though, on the ring," Louise added the last part quickly.

Now everything clicked in his mind, so he did what was expected. He held the princess's hand then lightly kissed her ring. Once he did that they remove their contact, Ragna actually felt awkward about the gesture. He never did it before and even though he barely remembered Saya read a story with a similar action, he brushed it off and never paid attention to it.

As soon as the gesture was done, the door was slammed open. All heads mechanically turned to the door and saw a certain flamboyant blonde called Guiche de Gramont.

"You! The Princess! Why do you think you're doing?!" Guiche exclaimed at everyone.

"The hell you want now kid?" Ragna immediately went on the aggressive side. He still remembered what he attempted back then and ain't gonna let it go soon. It seems Louise has the same consensus as he does.

Guiche, however, ignored his question.

"For my hunt of the rose-like, lovely princess bringing me to this place... and then seeing a theft, so to speak, occur through the door's keyhole... that idiot commoner taking a kiss..."

Guiche flourished his imitation rose, "Duel with me! You scoundrel!" He cried to Ragna.

As soon as he said that, Ragna picked up both his sword and Derflinger.

"You really want to go now, kid? Need I remind you I kicked your ass with only **my fist** ," Ragna spoke in a threatening voice.

Guiche visibly flinched and quickly recomposed himself. "I=I'm not scared of you now! I learned my lesson not to underestimate you. I will take you seriously now!"

"Huh, guess that means I can beat your ass with my full power then," Ragna then turn to both the Princess and Louise. "So, what now? This guy overheard Princess' story. Shall we have him killed by me personally? I mean, he wants me to duel with him with my full power."

"Hm... I think that's a good idea. At least we have a front to cover Princess's story," Louise agreed and nod.

Guiche turned paled by Louise's words and quickly tried to salvage the situation.

"Your Highness! By all means, please appoint me, Guiche de Gramont, to this difficult mission."

"Why the hell should we add you to this mission? It's something between friends you know."

Guiche's face reddened and spoke softly, "I wish to be of use to Her Highness..."

Ragna was sensing something from Guiche's appearance right then.

"You shitting with me now?! You're in love with the princess of all people?!"

"Don't say such rude things. I am, absolutely, just wanting to be of use to Her Highness."

However, Guiche's face was burning intensely as he said this. Telling by the passionate look he was giving Henrietta, he was certainly under her charm.

"But you have a girlfriend. Who was that again? Uh, Monmon-something..."

"It's Montmorency."

"So, the hell's going on with both of you then?"

But Guiche went silent and had a solemn look. ' _Ah, I see_ ', Ragna thought.

"She dumped you did she? Figures."

"Q-quiet! It was all that maid's fault!"

It was the matter of the perfume in the dining hall. When he was caught two-timing, Guiche was dripping with wine from the top of his head courtesy of Montmorency.

"Gramont? Ah, of General Gramont?" The princess spoke, she fixed her eyes on Guiche's vacantly looking face.

"I am his son, Your Highness." Guiche gave a reverent bow.

"Are you also saying that you wish to help me?"

"It would be an unexpected blessing for me if I were to become a part of that mission," Guiche said with enthusiasm.

Henrietta smiled at Guiche's enthusiastic expression.

"Thank you. Your father is a great, brave noble, and it seems you have inherited his blood," Ragna and Louise snorted at that, good thing it went unnoticed. "Then, please. Would you help this unfortunate princess, Sir Guiche?"

"Her Highness has called my name! Her Highness! Tristain's lovely flower has smiled her rosy smile at me!" Guiche, having felt too much excitement, fell on his back in a faint.

"... He just has to doesn't he?"

Louise shrugged and paid no mind to the disturbance.

"Well then, in three days, we shall depart for Albion," she said in a very serious tone.

"We have heard that Prince Wales has set up camp somewhere around Newcastle in Albion."

"Understood. I've traveled through Albion with my sisters before, so I'm familiar with the geography."

"It will be a perilous journey. If the nobles of Albion discover your mission, they will do everything in their power to get in your way."

Henrietta sat at the desk and, with Louise's feather quill and some parchment, wrote a letter out.

Henrietta quietly gazed at the letter she had written herself before she began shaking her head sadly.

"Princess? What's the matter?" Louise knew something was up with her friend's behavior, so she called out.

"I-it's nothing." Henrietta blushed, gave a nod as if she had settled on something, then added another line at the end. After that, she murmured in a soft voice.

"Founder Brimir... Please forgive this selfish princess. Even though my country is in distress, I cannot help but write this one sentence... I cannot lie about my own feelings..."

Henrietta's facial expression made it seem like she had written a love-letter rather than a secret message. Louise couldn't say anything more and just looked at Henrietta quietly.

Henrietta rolled up the letter she had written. She waved her staff. Out of nowhere, sealing wax appeared on the rolled-up letter, and a seal pressed down on it. Then she handed the letter over to Louise.

"When you meet the Crown Prince Wales, please pass this letter to him. He should then return the letter in question immediately. When three days had passed, I shall give you another important item for the upcoming mission."

"Very well, we will rendezvous in this very room Princess."

Henrietta nodded then left the room, leaving Ragna, Louise, and a fainted Guiche there.

"Someone's gonna need kick that kid out of the room," Ragna said while pointing at Guiche.

It was the very next day Guiche was found in the hallway with a shoe mark on his back.

* * *

A/N

Done and done! Suck it college, I managed to manage my time for both projects and writing! (Sees a stack of paper)... I spoke too soon.

Anyways, I'm sure all of you had noticed there are a few changes here and there already. If anything, I feel like these changes will eventually affect this entire arc as a whole. Trust me when I say what happened in the canon might not happen and some changes that happened will have huge consequences being caused.

With that said, let's answer... only two reviews... (Cries in a corner) Did I do bad the last chapter? Yeah, I guess I did... I got so rusty to that point, didn't I? I suck a lot...

RedBurningDragon: Break he did, in a comedic way.

Kotano-Chan: Hello my all-time favorite reader, I did great, managed to pass with a B surprisingly. You're welcome with me reminding you about the ribbon, it's my job to make sure my readers know what happened in the story without being confused by it. Don't worry about his coat being ruined, it will be fine. No, Murphy's Law is not screwing with me. If it is ruined then Ragna will become an S-class criminal immediately, along with Louise. We do not want that to happen. The barrier magic list is something I came up with and I still have one or two changes with their name to be more fitting. I will take a while though since... you know, college.

Anyway, that's all for now and good night everyone.


	15. Chapter 11

*Disclaimer*

I do not own Familiar of Zero and Blazblue. They belong to their respective creators and publishers.

Without further ado. Let's begin.

* * *

 _Location: Academy Gate_

It is around mid-day in the Magic Academy and all of the students of the Academy crowded the area. They stand in an organized row where the first years and second years lined up on the left side while on the right side, the third years stood there.

As the Princess went through the Academy gates, those rows of students raised their staffs in unison, silent and serious. After the main gates were the doors to the central tower. Osman stood at attention there to receive the Princess. As the carriages stopped, servants rushed to lay down a red carpet to its door. Guards tensely announced her arrival.

"Her Royal Highness of the Kingdom of Tristain, Princess Henrietta has arrived."

The first out the door, however, was Cardinal Mazarin.

The students grunted, some even complained under their breaths, but Mazarin paid no attention, standing at the side of the carriage, holding the Princess's hand as she alighted. The students finally applauded. A youthful, flowery smile emerged from the Princess's face as she elegantly waved.

"That's the Princess of Tristain? Heh... I'm better looking than that." Kirche mumbled. "Oh my dear, who do you think is prettier?" She turned to Ragna, who just looked at the Princess but paid no attention to her. Instead, he focused his attention on someone else.

It is a young, breathtakingly sharp-looking noble, sporting a feather-hat and long beard. He is riding on a creature with an eagle's head, wings, and talons, and it had a lion's body and hind legs. His appearance can rival to that of Kagura and even his brother, Jin. But he noticed a large difference between him to both of them, and that is his eyes.

Not the eye color nor the eyebrow per se, it's the sight that what sets Ragna off. Something about his eyes seems far too familiar to him. He couldn't put his finger on it, but he knows what it is. Regardless, right now he switched his attention to the princess. Right now she's conversing with the headmaster, he couldn't hear it due to the collective mumbling of all the students here.

Regardless, tonight both everyone will gather, which includes a new addition.

He subtly moves his vision to a certain green-haired secretary, who was standing beside the Headmaster. She seems to pay a lot of attention to their conversation. Eventually, she gestures the princess to follow her, maybe to her living quarters.

For a second, he could swear the princess **and** Longueville glance at his direction. Maybe it was just his imagination. Regardless, time to finish preparation.

"Are you listening to me, Darling?!" Kirche exclaimed to him.

Thank whatever god this world have that she will never join the team.

* * *

 _Location: Louise's Room_

Louise, Ragna, and Guiche minded their own business as they were waiting for the princess to make her way to here. The room was silent except the sound of Ragna polishing Derflinger and Louise flipping through a book. What it was, Ragna had no idea.

The door was knocked with the familiar pattern that they know. Ragna went ahead and open the door for the princess that they were waiting. The princess went in and take a seat while Ragna made sure no one saw her. Once he closed and locked the door, they begin the finalization. Not before Louise and Guiche greeted the princess.

Once the greeting was done, she opened her mouth, speaking in a serious tone.

"Tomorrow all of you will depart to Albion. It will be a dangerous journey to there so please, be careful on your way."

"Don't worry about us Princess, we would do anything to ensure this mission is a success," Louise said with determination, her voice managed to represent how her fellow noble felt.

"Even so..." Henrietta's voice trailed off, still unsure about sending her best friend off to a dangerous mission.

"If it makes you feel any better, I can keep those kids alive." Ragna, who was leaning against the wall, reassured her with his usual rough tone. For a moment, she remained silent as she contemplates the decision once again, fearing the worst. But she gathered her resolve. If she couldn't trust Louise, how can she call the pinkette her best friend?

"Very well," she muttered then Henrietta removed a ring from the ring finger on her right hand, and gave it to Louise.

"This is a ' **Water Ruby** ' that I had received from my mother. It should work as a good-luck charm, at least. If you have any money concerns, please sell this to get some travel funds."

Louise bowed her head in silence.

"This mission is for the future of Tristain. For that, my mother's ring will protect you from the harsh winds blowing in Albion."

With that, she put up her hood and left the room hurriedly.

* * *

 _Location: Unknown_

Longueville placed another piece of clothing into her backpack then closed it. Once dawn breaks, she would have to leave for her hometown Albion. Of course, she needs to meet up with the albino haired man as per agreement she made three days ago so that his team would easily find where the objective would be and then hopefully able to visit her half-elf sister.

Of course, there was her 'benefactors' to worry about. No doubt keeping an eye out of her for her past one failure. She sighed in exasperation. How paranoid can those fanatics be anyway? She knows they view their 'god' highly but nowadays, she wondered should she become an atheist soon. A war-monger god is no god that was worth worshipping at all.

The secretary placed her backpack beside her table then lay on her bed, ready to fall into slumber. A final thought came to her mind as she drifted into dreamland.

 _'I wonder... can he save us from this?'_

* * *

 _Location: Academy Gate_

Although dawn had just broken, Ragna, Guiche, and Louise had already started preparing the saddles for their horses. Slung over Ragna's back were Derflinger and his favorite unnamed sword.

The horses they had were rented from the academy, but Ragna's one has the most unique appearance. It has a dark red hair throughout its body and its manes looked like orange flames. From what Louise told him, the horse has been around for as long as she remembered so its one of the oldest horse in the academy. All it does was break out of its own stable to gallop around the plains then came back as if nothing happened. This, of course, caused some headache for the staff. Imagine her surprise when they went into the stable and the horse broke out of its stable, again, and act as if Ragna was its owner. Ragna was perplexed by it but eventually chose to have the horse as his transport.

Louise was dressed in her academy uniform, the only difference was that she now wore horse riding boots instead of shoes. Judging from that, it looked like a great deal of time would be spent riding the horse.

"I have a request..." Guiche spoke awkwardly.

"What is it that you want?" Ragna responded with annoyance while putting his belongings onto the saddle. The kid was starting to annoy the hell out of him now.

"I wish to bring my familiar along." The blonde boy immediately replied.

"You mean your oversized mole?" Louise turned to him and asked, as she had finished putting her belongings onto the saddle.

"Mole?" "It's not **just** an oversized mole! She's a beautiful, special among her species!"

Louise, ignoring his retort, asked another question. "So where is she now?"

Guiche just pointed at the ground, which raised both of their eyebrows and cocked their head sideways. He merely sighed then tapped the ground a few times, and lo and behold, an oversized mole appeared under the ground. As soon as the creature appeared, Guiche's face lit up in happiness. "Verdandi! Oh, my cute Verdandi!"

"THAT'S YOUR FAMILIAR?!" Ragna could only be dumbfounded by the development. To say the mole was oversized was consider a mild way to describe it. In fact, it's the size of a baby bear of all things!

"Yes," he said it in as a matter of fact tone before quickly turned back to his familiar. "Ahh... My Verdandi, you look so cute from any angle I look. Have you eaten your meal of earthworms before you arrived here?"

The gigantic mole hemmed happily in response.

"Really? That's wonderful!" Guiche said while rubbing cheek to cheek with his familiar.

"I don't think we can bring it with us," Ragna said while looking at the creature, still trying to wrap his head around it. "Its way too big for us."

"I agree, how are we suppose to bring it along when we just going to ride on horses." Louise looked at the mole, for some reason something about it made her wants to run.

"Oh fret not! Verdandi, while large for a mole, can move quickly underground. Am I right my dear Verdandi?"

The gigantic mole nodded in agreement.

"But we're going to Albion! We can't bring creatures that move underground!." Louise explained.

Guiche, upon hearing that, knelt onto the ground with a hurtful face and replied, "I cannot bear the separation with my dear Verdandi... Oh! The pain..."

 _'And he's being dramatic again... what a pain in the ass'_ Ragna pinched his nose by the boy's display.

At the same time, the giant mole seemed to pick up some scent from its nose and drew nearer and nearer to Louise.

"What is this stupid mole trying to do!?" She took a step back for every step it comes closer.

"Like master, like familiar. They both share the same interest – girls," Ragna muttered under his breath.

"Stop! Stop this right now!"

The giant mole knocked Louise off her feet and started sniffing all over her.

"Ah! Watch where you're sniffing! Stop it!"

Louise being constantly poked by the giant mole's nose started to roll all over the ground. All that rolling disheveled her clothes and exposed her underwear. Louise was starting to get very annoyed...

"Ah... How beautiful is the scene of a giant mole teasing a damsel." Guiche commented.

Ragna immediately glared at Guiche with clear anger adorned his face. "Teasing my ass! Get your stupid mole off her or I'm doing it myself!"

"Stop blabbering nonsense over there, you oafs! Come over and help me quickly! Ahh!"

The giant mole saw the ring at Louise's right hand and started pecking it with its nose.

"You insolent mole! Don't use your nose to sniff at the ring the highness has bestowed to me!"

The moment Guiche saw the mole's behavior towards the ring, he snapped his finger in realization. "I see now. It's the ring. Verdandi loves jewels."

"Such an irritating pest!"

"Please don't call Verdandi an irritating pest. It's because of me that Verdandi searches for precious stones and jewels. For an Earth magician, there's nothing more helpful than this."

Just as Louise was preparing to blow up the mole that was on top of her, a sudden gust of wind came out of nowhere and blew away Verdandi.

"Who is that!?" Guiche shouted agitatedly.

A rather stout looking noble wearing a feathered cap appeared out of the faint daylight behind him. Ragna widened his eyes as he recognized that man.

"What have you done to my Verdandi!?" Guiche shouted at him angrily and hastily took out his rose shaped wand but the noble wearing the feathered cap was faster. Before Guiche could cast any spell, his wand was already out of his hand.

"I'm not your enemy. I'm under the orders of the highness to accompany you on your journey. The princess is worried about just having you few going to Albion, but then again sending a whole troop of soldiers with you will be too conspicuous. Therefore, I was appointed to accompany you all on this journey." The noble explained while taking off his feather cap and bowing.

"I'm the captain of the Griffin Knights, Viscount Wardes."

The grumbling Guiche quickly shut his mouth. If Ragna had to guess, a Griffin Knight has to be something akin to a high officer.

Wardes looked at Guiche and spoke apologetically. "Sorry for what I did to your familiar. I couldn't stand watching my fiancée being harassed."

That statement immediately stunned Ragna. "Fiancée?" He blurted out. When did it happen? As far as he knows, she never mentioned anything about marriage. Then again, all they did was training back at the gates but occasionally, Louise would share some stories about what happened to her at the time. So either it happened even before they met, or she chose to kept it a secret. But one of his biggest concern was that... this was basically child marriage. And in his book, that was a big no-no.

"This majestic looking noble is Louise' fiancée?" Guiche squeaked.

"Wardes-sama..." Louise spoke in a trembling voice after standing up.

"It's been such a long time. My Louise, my dear Louise." The older looking noble said it lovingly.

Ragna clicked his tongue in disgust and walked up to the man. "So you're Louise's fiancee?" He said aggressively.

"Why yes indeed. We had been engaged ever since Louise was young." He replied politely, seemingly unfazed by his aggression. "Though I do not know who you are. Do you mind introduce them, Louise?"

Louise pulled herself out of her stupor and composed herself. "Erm... That is Guiche de Gramont and my mentor and familiar, Ragna," said Louise while pointing at them while she was introducing them to Wardes. Guiche who did not dare look at Wardes directly lowered his head. Ragna, on the other hand, simply grunt.

Wardes said with a rather surprised look on his face, "Are you Louise' familiar? This is the first time I've seen a human being a familiar." He trailed off at the last part.

"Thank you for taking such good care of my fiancée."

"Yeah yeah, let's just get going and be over with it." Ragna rudely replied.

"He is rather rude is he not?" Wardes asked -more like stated to- Louise. The only girl on the team merely sighed and looked at him with a frown. "His rude nature is not something that can change, but it is somewhat mellowed down for the past few weeks." She replied before Wardes nodded at her answer then gave a whistle.

A mythical beast with the head of an eagle and a body of a lion; and on its back were wings that were made up of beautiful white feathers from the morning clouds. Something inside Ragna's mind immediately clicked and recognized it as a griffin.

Wardes had climbed to the back of the griffin with grace and then extended a hand to Louise.

"Come over, my Louise."

Louise lowered her head in hesitation and bashfulness, just like a girl who is in love. This made Ragna felt a bit more annoyed and angered. Though he slowly starting to get it why now. Its the same kind of anger whenever Jin bullies Saya when they were young, yet different in a way. For now, he just silently mount his unique horse.

Louise, who was still hesitating, was suddenly carried up to the griffin by Wardes.

With one hand on the reins and his wand in the other, Wardes shouted, "Well everybody, onwards!"

The griffin moved forward. Following behind it were Guiche, looking full of admiration for Wardes while Ragna clenched his fist as he watched them go into the sky.

 _'What the hell are you plotting you soulless ass...'_ Ragna thought to himself while staring at the blank sky.

* * *

From the headmaster's office window, Henrietta was watching Ragna and group departing for Albion. Closing her eyes, she starting praying...

"Founder Brimir, please grant them protection throughout their journey..."

Next to her was Headmaster Osman casually trimming his nasal hair.

Henrietta turned to him and asked, "You aren't going to see them off, headmaster Osman?"

"No, as you can see, I'm busy trimming my nasal hair, your highness."

Henrietta shook her head in disapproval while sighing.

Just then, someone knocked at the door.

"Enter," said the headmaster.

Mr. Colbert entered the room with a letter in his hand. "This was left on my doorstep Headmaster. It's from the secretary."

"Please hand it over." The headmaster stop trimming and took the letter. He unsealed the letter and looked at the content. Once he read it, he nodded and looked at Colbert.

"It seems Miss Longueville is taking a leave to her hometown to visit her sister."

"For how long sir?" Colbert asked.

"She said she will be back as soon as possible." Osmond sighed and placed down the letter on the table. "Oh by the Founder all the paperwork I have to deal with..."

Henrietta suddenly had a thought cross her mind. "Don't you think the timing is far too convenient?"

"It might be just coincidence," Osmond said with a relaxed tone and went back to trimming until he winced as he accidentally hurt himself.

Henrietta immediately frowned. "How can you still be so relaxed? The future of Tristain is at stake!" Her displease and worries were evident in her voice.

"It's all right. If it's him, he'll be able to cope with any problems they'll face during their journey." He said as he continued to trim his nasal hair.

"The person you're speaking of is Guiche? Or Viscount Wardes?"

The headmaster shook his head. That response earned a surprised look on Henrietta.

"Don't tell me that person is Louise's familiar. How could that be possible?! Isn't he just a commoner?"

"Your Highness, have you heard of the story of Founder Brimir before?" The old man asked.

"I have read most of the story..."

The headmaster smiled and replied, "Then, do you know about Gandalf?"

"Isn't that Founder Brimir's strongest familiar? Don't tell me..."

At this point of time, Headmaster Osman felt that he had already divulged too much. Regarding the secret of **Gandalf** , he always wanted to keep that to himself. Although he trusted Henrietta, he did not want the Royal family to know about it yet.

"Yes, he's as strong and capable as Gandalf and furthermore, he comes from another world different from ours."

"Another world?"

"That's right. He comes from a world different from Halkeginia. Or I should say, from a place not on Halkeginia. I have always believed that this youth from another world will succeed. That's also the reason that I'm so carefree even during these perilous times."

"Another world different from Halkeginia really exists..."

Henrietta gazed far away. She closed her eyes, smiled and said, "Let me pray then, for the breeze that comes from another world."

* * *

Longueville took a seat on the edge of a nearby river as her horse was grazing a patch of grass. She felt the cold water flowing on her feet as she felt relaxed.

The moment of respite sudden got interrupted by the sudden footsteps that were approaching her. She turned around and saw a man wearing a white mask.

"What is it that you want now?" She said with a small edge in her voice. For as much as her benefactor pays, she never liked him at all.

The man told her what he wanted and then placed down a bag full of gold. Once that was done, he vanished into the woods, leaving her alone.

Longueville clicked her tongue and stood up, dried her feet and took the bag of coins.

"This is going to be more complicated than it should be," Longueville muttered to herself before mounting her horse.

"I'm sorry Sir Ragna."

* * *

Hours since they left the academy, Wardes' griffin had been endlessly moving towards their destination. Even though the rest of the group had already changed their mount twice, Wardes' griffin, just like its master, appeared to be tireless.

"Hold on, isn't the pace too fast for us?" Louise, who was on Wardes' griffin, asked. Over the duration of the journey, Louise spoke in a more informal manner to Wardes than when they were reunited. But that was also partly due to the Viscount's request.

"Are you perhaps worried about them?" Wardes questioned her.

"Yes. While Ragna may be fine, Guiche is on the brink of exhaustion."

The griffin rider looked down to Ragna and Guiche, and sure enough, the boy was desperately holding on the reins of his horse, seemingly going to collapse faster than the horse. For Ragna, while he may look fine, he looked like he needed a moment of respite and from the looks of his annoyed face, he might punch anyone to vent out his anger at any moment.

"But I had originally planned to journey to port city La Rochelle without stopping..." He said softly, mostly to himself.

"That would be difficult, it would take two days to reach by horses." She stated in as-a-matter-of-fact tone.

"If that's the case, why don't we just leave them behind?"

That statement immediately caught Louise off guard and caused her to shout at him, "We can't do that!"

"Why?"

"Aren't we in this together? Furthermore, a magician should not abandon her familiar..."

Wardes went silent for a second then immediately asked her an unexpected question. "You seem protective of them both. Which one is your sweetheart?"

Louise's face immediately turned red and replied, "What... What sweetheart!? Can't a friend look after another friend!?"

"That sets my heart at ease. If my fiancée tells me that she already has a sweetheart, I would die of a broken heart," replied Wardes with a smile.

"But that was only something that our parents had agreed on." She felt her embarrassment rise up as the moment goes by.

"Then, do you dislike me, my small and dainty Louise?"

"Please, I'm not young anymore," Louise replied, rolled her eyes before pouting.

"But in my eyes, you're forever that small and dainty Louise."

Louise remembered that dream that she'd had a few days back, where she was back in the courtyard of her home, la Vallière.

The secret boat on the forgotten lake in the estate.

Whenever she was throwing a tantrum there, Wardes would always be there to pacify her.

The marriage that was decided by her parents.

The betrothal that was decided since youth. The one that she would be married to. Her fiancée.

At that time, she still did not fully understand what was going on. She only knew that, so long as she was with the man she had admired, she would be happy.

But now, she finally understood everything. She would be married to Wardes. Oh, how innocent minded and naive of her, but it was around that time she began to befriend Ragna in her dreams. A friend that she once thought to be a figment of her imagination, or perhaps her past self. But the Spring Summoning proved it to be wrong.

"I don't dislike you," Louise replied with a tinge of embarrassment.

"That's wonderful, in other words, you like me?" Wardes said that and gently hugged Louise's shoulders.

"I have never forgotten about you even after all this time. Do you still remember? After my father's death during the lancer campaign?"

Louise nodded her head.

Wardes began to reminisce and narrated to Louise about the past.

"My mother had passed away earlier, I inherited my father's estate and title. Wanting to make a name for myself, I went to the capital. Fortunately, the highness had a deep impression of my father who had perished in the battlefield, I was incorporated into the Griffin Knights. I had entered the Griffin Knights as a trainee, training was tough then.

"From then on, you seldom went back to your estate again," replied Louise while closing her eyes. She too seemed to be immersed in her memories.

"My house and estate were cared for by my butler, Galgann, while I put all my effort into serving the nation. After so long, I finally made a name for myself, accomplishing what I had decided upon leaving my homeland." Wardes made a nostalgic smile, which was emulated on Louise's face too.

"What was it that you decided upon?" She opened one eye, peeking on her fiancee.

"To ask your hand for marriage once I have made a name for myself."

Louise managed to keep herself from snorting, cynically laugh at his statement. Huh, she realized now that her cynicism only comes around when it was about the past. "You're kidding right, Viscount? You're so popular among the girls, you have no need to honor your promise to such an insignificant me."

About Wardes' betrothal. Louise had cleanly forgotten it until she had that dream a few days back. The bridal pact to Wardes was all but a fleeting dream. In her opinion, it was only an agreement made on a whim. Made by the fantasy she had back then.

After Wardes had left his estate ten years ago, Louise had never seen him again. Wardes had already become part of her distant memory. Distant memories had suddenly become reality. Far too sudden for her, in her opinion.

"This journey is a good chance for us to regain those feelings we had when you were young," Wardes said with a gentle and calm tone.

Louise stayed silent for the rest of the journey. For Wardes it was comfortable, but for Louise, it allowed her to think.

Does she love Wardes? Or perhaps it was just an innocent feeling?

Even though she did not dislike him and she did admire him when she was young, that was all in the past.

Suddenly faced with a fiancée and probably marriage, she did not know what to do. Furthermore, they had been apart for so many years, she did not really know whether she still had any feelings for him.

 _'Maybe... Maybe I should consult Ragna for this? Maybe he knows something right?_ Louise thought to herself.

Meanwhile on the ground level.

"We have already been on these horses for nearly a whole day, doesn't he get tired? Are those griffin knights monsters?" Guiche, who was also lifelessly slouching on the horse, asked.

"Who knows?" Ragna replied without a care in the world. "Maybe that's how the military works. I won't be surprised by how much training they did."

He looked up to where Wardes was and felt his irritation rose up even higher. He truly wants to just use Derflinger as a projectile and kill Wardes here and there. No matter how much he tried to tell himself Louise wouldn't like him to do it, he had the urge to do it just to... to do what really? If he is being honest, Wardes reminded him too many people, but one stands out the most is...

 _' **Terumi...**_ _'_

Guiche, looking at Ragna's irritated state, began teasing him. "Heh heh... Don't tell me you're jealous?" Guiche said with a snicker.

"The hell are you talking about?"

"I guessed it correctly, didn't I?" Guiche laughed even harder.

"Hey, shut the hell up dammit!"

"Mwahaha... You actually carried a love for your master that would never flower? To tell you honestly, love between people of different status will only result in tragedy."

"Stop talking nonsense! How could I ever like someone who is like my younger sister?!"

Guiche suddenly looked like he's going to facefault and turn to him with a bewildered face. "W-wait, you see her as your sister? Talk about sister complex!"

Ragna immediately has his most sinister possible look on his face as he slowly unsheathed Derflinger. "You got five seconds to leave. I have no sister complex."

Guiche yelp like a little girl before whipped his rein to make the horse gallop faster. Sure enough, five seconds past and he began to chase after Guiche. Though he has to give credit that the boy can run fast when he needs to.

As they had been traveling at full speed and exchanged their tired horses for fresh ones several times, they reached the outskirts of La Rochelle that night.

Ragna looked around in confusion. ' _Aren't we approaching a port? Why do I still see mountains everywhere? Maybe once we cross this mountain we should be able to see the ocean. That or the port is a cart port like Yakibo.'_

Traveling under the moonlight, Ragna and the group finally saw a narrow mountain pathway. Buildings which were carved from boulders could be seen on both sides of the pathway. This got Ragna to raised an eyebrow.

"Why is a port built on top of a mountain?"

Hearing Ragna asking, Guiche replied sarcastically, "Don't tell me that you don't even know where Albion is?"

Ragna nodded, confirming his confusion, "Yeah, I don't know."

"Really?" Guiche replied with laughter. But Ragna did not laugh.

"I have no common knowledge of this world and so don't assume that I do dammit."

Suddenly, from the top of the cliff, torches were thrown at their horses. The burning torches illuminated the ravine they were about to cross.

"What's... What's happening !?" Guiche cried.

Guiche's horse got frightened by the burning torches, threw Guiche off it's back. Ragna one's however, immediately pulled itself to a stop.

As Guiche fell, a hail of arrows showered upon them.

"It's an ambush!" Guiche shouted.

Ragna reacted quickly by unsheathing Derflinger, as it was the lightest and smallest weapon he had right now. But before he can even fully pull it out, a gust of wind appeared and caught the arrows, sending them away.

Ragna turned to his back and saw Wardes with his wand held up, which made Ragna confirmed the wind blast during dawn was caused by him.

"Is everyone alright?" Wardes shouted to everyone.

"...I'm good," Ragna looked around for any immediate danger. Seeing none, he sheathed Derflinger, inadvertently silenced the sword from whatever he wanted to say.

"It was most likely thieves or bandits," Wardes commented, not exactly talking to anyone.

Louise, suddenly realizing something exclaimed, "Could it be the nobles from Albion?"

Wardes shook his head and immediately debunked it. "Nobles would not use arrows."

Just then, the sound of flapping wings could be heard. It was a sound that they were quite familiar with...

Suddenly, screams of pain could be heard from the cliffs.

Arrows could be seen shooting towards the night sky. However, all the arrows were quickly carried away by wind magic.

After that, a small hurricane created by magic blew away all the archers.

"Hmm... Aren't those wind incantations?" Wardes mumbled to himself.

The archers, attempting to ambush them, rolled down the cliffs after being blown away by the magical tornado. They landed hard onto the ground, giving out moans of pain.

With the moon as the background, a familiar sight appeared. "It's Sylphid!" Louise shouted confoundedly.

It was Tabitha's wind dragon. After it landed, a red-haired girl jumped down from the dragon and flicked her hair while saying, "Sorry to keep you all waiting."

Louise too jumped down from Wardes' griffin and replied, "What do you mean sorry to keep you waiting!? Why are you here in the first place?"

"Not to help you in any case. When I saw you leaving the academy on the horse in the morning, I quickly woke up Tabitha and followed you all the way here."

Kirche pointed at Tabitha, from the looks of it she was woken up from her sleep; she was still wearing her pajamas. But she didn't seem to mind at all, and was still reading a book.

"Zerbst! Listen to me, we're on a secret mission given to us by her highness!"

"Secret mission? You should have said so earlier! How would I know if you did not tell me about it? Anyways, be thankful to me, for I have apprehended the people who wanted to ambush you!" Kirche proudly said this while pointing to the people who were lying on the ground. Those ambushers were unable to move due to their injuries and hurled curses towards Louise and the group. Guiche approached them and began interrogating them.

Louise, crossing her arms, gave a vicious stare at Kirche.

"Don't be mistaken! I'm not here to assist you. Am I right?"

Kirche posed suggestively and then leaned on Wardes, who was on the griffin, and said, "Your beard makes you very manly. Do you know what passion looks like?"

Wardes glanced at Kirche and proceeded to push her away using his left hand, which caused her to be dumbfounded. "Huh?"

"Thank you for coming to our aid, but please do not get so close to me ever again." Wardes simply said.

"But why? I just told you that I liked you!"

That was the second time that Kirche received such cold treatment from a male. First was her beloved Darling Ragna, and now even this man?! And Wardes was not in the least interested in her at all! Kirche gazed at Wardes with her mouth wide open.

"I'm sorry. But I cannot let my fiancée misunderstand." Wardes said while looking at Louise, causing her face turned red from embarrassment in an instant.

"What? She's your fiancée!?" Kirche jaw dropped, trying to process the new information.

Wardes nodded in response. Kirche took a closer look at Wardes. She did not realize it before, but Wardes' eyes showed no emotion at all. Just like ice.

She then looked at Ragna, who was glaring at Wardes. He turned to Kirche and for some reason, he made a quick hand sign to her.

 _'Huh? What is he trying to... hold on...'_

Looking at Ragna for a moment, she ran towards him and hugged him immediately. This action caught him off guard and nearly tumbled.

"Actually, I'm here because I'm worried for my beloved!"

"The hell are you doing?! I told you I don't want to deal with you already!" Ragna tried to pry her off until she quietly whispered something. No one except Ragna caught it then he simply stopped. "Whatever, do what you want."

Louise bit her lips, wanting to tell Kirche off. She could not tolerate Kirche for seducing her familiar.

Just then, Wardes gently placed his hands on Louise's shoulder. Wardes looked at Louise lovingly and gave her a smile.

"Viscount..." Louise said in a trance like a school girl in love, thus decide to lay if off.

Guiche, who was interrogating the ambushers, had just returned.

"Viscount, those ambushers admitted that they were robbers."

"Hmm... If they're just robbers, let them go."

Wardes effortlessly mounted back to the top of his griffin, carrying Louise up with him. He then announced to everyone, "We'll spend the night at La Rochelle, tomorrow we will take the first ship to Albion at the break of dawn."

Kirche sat behind Ragna, sharing the same horse with him. Guiche also remounted his horse. As for Tabitha, she was still reading her book on her wind dragon.

"I'm surprised that you managed to tame this old horse," Kirche commented with amazement.

"It just breaks out of it's stable and comes to me like its waiting for me. I can't really tell but if I get a transport, might as well take it." He replied with a shrug and the horse neighed as if it agrees with him. "So," Ragna started, "What do you mean I've noticed?"

Kirche dropped her playful demeanor and talk in her serious voice, "I mean I can tell you noticed his eyes, its... cold, too cold for me." Kirche shivered as she remembered his gaze, she didn't like it in one bit.

"That is the gaze of a murderer... something I've known too well," He admitted. It wasn't something he was proud of. A man who held no remorse for killing, that kind of gaze was something he saw a lot during his criminal days.

They went into an awkward silence as they continued their journey. Ragna heard Kirche shifted and then felt her hugging his back. He almost shouted at her for doing it, only for her to interrupt.

"I... I don't feel so good having Valliere with that cold-hearted man." Her voice filled with discomfort and fear. Ragna didn't say anything, but he placed one hand on her hands to reassure her. With that, they came into a comfortable silence as Kirche knew what Ragna has to do now.

Finally, they saw their destination.

In front of them, sandwiched between two cliffs, was the port city La Rochelle, dazzling with lights.

* * *

A/N

It's done! It's done! I finally finished it!

Its been two months and all I did is deliver this? Sorry about that, but... I suppose the usual excuse is in order? I mean, college is hogging my timetable the whole time. Its possible it will take up more of my time in the next term. But who cares about it for now? Let's get to the review answering.

Guest: As you can tell in this chapter, Ragna has suspicion on him. Let it be known that he isn't stupid so it will take a bit of time for him to figure out what he is trying to accomplish.

Kotano-chan: Hey Kotano-chan, my long time follower! Glad you still stick around after so long. Your confidence boost means a lot to me so thanks. You know, I did actually consider making Ragna and Louise become criminals for the rest of the story, but that would make me shoot myself in the foot so I shelved it away. Maybe I can make it into a one-shot, I might consider it. So, are you looking forward to Ragna and Wardes fight each other? Well, be excited as the next chapter, I shall make it happen! **So let's get ready to** **rumbleeeeeee!  
** Man, I always like that quote.

Anyway, with the reviews done, I have an announcement to make.

I, Hellifrit, has officially made a P-atreon. Yes, you heard me, I made a P-atreon. So, why did I make it? Cause I want to have at least feel like I earn something physical (well cyber in this case) for my hard work. Don't worry, you don't have to pay me now since I put it up just so I can fully use it in the future when I managed to make my original Webnovel. What can I offer in exchange for donating to me? Well... find it out youonelf in my page! The link is in my profile page and I will put it up in the subsequent chapters.

With that all done, I bid you all adeau. Good night.


	16. Chapter 12

*Disclaimer*

I do not own Familiar of Zero and Blazblue. They belong to their respective creators and publishers.

Without further ado. Let's begin.

* * *

 _Location: Goddess's Temple hub_

Tired of riding all day, they had decided to rest at the fanciest hotel in the city of La Rochelle, the Goddess's Temple. It was a very fancy place even for a noble. The dining tables and floor were both made from the same marble and the floor was so clean that one could see their own face on it.

Wardes and Louise came back from the pier.

When Wardes sat down he said hesitantly, "The ship for Albion leaves the day after tomorrow."

"This mission is very urgent..." Louise pointed.

"So we got a day to rest. Better than moving all the way from another side of the world to here like a madman." Ragna commented in a low tone.

Collective groans were heard as everyone who was exhausted relaxed, knowing tomorrow they could rest.

"I have never been to Albion so I do not know why there is no ship tomorrow," Kirche asked Wardes. The said person turned to Kirche and answered to her, "Are the moons overlapping tomorrow? If so, then Albion should be closest to La Rochelle"

Wardes put the keys on the table, "Let us rest here for now. Take the keys. Tabitha and Kirche take one room, Guiche and Ragna take another."

Guiche and Ragna turned to each other and stared at each other.

Wardes continued, "Louise and I will be sharing a room."

Ragna immediately glared at Wardes, his instinct told him that he needs to kept Louise away from him.

"It is the obvious arrangement as Louise and I are engaged," Wardes replied smoothly.

Louise looked at Wardes in shock and said, "B-but we can't! We're not even married yet!"

"She's right you damn pedophile, let her sleep with the other girls while YOU sleep with the boys." Ragna fervently agreed with her, the flaring instinct was pushing itself to the limit and from how the rest of the group reacted, it seemed they had the same opinion.

But Wardes shook his head and quickly tried to defuse the situation, "I'm sorry if I give the wrong impression but there is something important I have to tell Louise. Please give us some privacy."

Ragna became silent but never left his glare off him, then he clicked his tongue. "Fine, but once you're done let her go to the girl's room. If you do anything though..."

Never lose his calm, the Viscount replied quickly, "Do not worry, I promise I won't do anything to her."

* * *

 _Location:?_

 _*Hic*_

 _The young Louise, who was wearing a light pink nightgown, knelt down on the white floor and crying again. Once more, she had failed to perform magic in which an explosion happened. Once more, everyone was disappointed at her attempts to show any sign of success.  
_

 _"You again kid? How did you get here in the first place anyway?" Ragna frowned as he made his way towards her._

 _Louise wiped off her tears and tried to look tough in front of Ragna. "W-well, I have no idea how but what seems to be the problem?"_

 _"The problem is that you keep on coming here and bawl your eyes out and it's annoying." Ragna sat down to her right and stared at her in silence. The little girl just pouted at him and while trying to reject what happened just now. "I... I was not crying! I'm just... practicing my acting skill. Yeah, I am."_

 _Ragna couldn't take it any longer so he opted to ask her the question that was in his mind for a while. "Seriously, what the hell happened to you? I swear if you cry any longer I have to find a way to get to your place and beat the shit out of the one who made you cry."_

 _Louise widened her eyes in panic and immediately grabbed his left arm. "No please don't hurt them!" The thought of this white-haired man raiding the Valliere Estate just to beat up her family was a horrifying thought. On one hand, if this man succeeds in his endeavor, she wouldn't imagine the consequences and shame that might befall to both parties. On the other hand, the thought of seeing her mother, Karin the Heavy Wind, crushes this man was terrifying as he might not survive her infamous hurricane spell, Titania Rage, at all.  
_

 _Ragna raised an eyebrow, slightly confused by her panic expression. "Oh? They're people you know? And you willing to defend them even though they hurt you?"_

 _"I-it's my fault anyway, I failed again and again so it's natural they p-punish me." She looked away, not wanting the man to see her saddening facial expression. Ragna on the other hand sighed and decided to ask her. "So, what did you fail?"  
_

 _Louise took a deep breath, a moment to compose herself before answering his question. "I.. I failed in doing magic. I can't create fire, produce water, manipulate the wind nor control the earth. All of them... All of them just end in explosions and more explosions. I can't even cast a simple Float!" As she continued to talk, her emotion became more haphazard.  
_

 _"So what?" All of Louise's emotion became anger, angry at Ragna's insensitiveness. She stood up and shouted at him "SO WHAT?! ITS MEANS EVERYTHING FOR ME! IT DEFINES MY IDENTITY YOU LOW LIFE!"  
_

 _She was going to slap him but was stopped by Ragna grabbed her by the wrist. "Means everything for you eh? Why not try something else? Why not you do something you might be great at?"_

 _"Because there is none," she angrily retorted before slump down, breaking down into tears. "There is nothing left for me... nothing I will learn can make me as great as my mother..."_

 _"... Get up." Ragna simply stated and stood up. Louise who was confused stared at him. The man grunted and gestured her to follow him, she complied and wondered why._

* * *

 _Location: Goddess's Temple, Girl's room_

Louise woke up by the sun ray glimmering through the windows. Even though it was muffled, she heard the streets were busy with its daily business. She turned to her left and found both Kirche and Tabitha were sleeping on the same bed, the blue haired girl became the red head's hugging pillow.

She decided to lay on the bed while looking at the ceiling to digest the information dumb that she received yesterday from her 'beloved', Viscount Wardes.

To think that Ragna, her familiar, no, mentor, was the Legendary Familiar known as Gandalf. Of course, she wouldn't believe it so easily unless she saw it herself. Even though she claimed him as her familiar- as the runes were the definite proof of their contract- she still skeptical about her own abilities.

She heard someone stirred up from her sleep and yawned. Louise turned to the bed and found Tabitha, whose hair is disheveled like a bush, sat up on the bed. The blue haired girl seemed to manage to maneuver her way from Kirche's grasp. Louise watched her getting off from the bed and made her way to Louise's bed. The second petit girl sat down on the pinkette's bed and decided to stare at her.

They didn't say anything, only stared at each other for a while. Louise didn't know what to say while Tabitha was naturally silent. This created an awkward silence for Louise, but for Tabitha... Louise doesn't know how the girl felt. It seems to her that the only facial expression Tabitha can muster up was the same neutral face.

"Curious." ' _Curious about what?'_ Louise thought. "Yesterday."

She took a second to piece things together and got into a conclusion. _'Tabitha's curious about what happened yesterday in Wardes's room'_.

Normally, Louise Leblanc De La Valliere would simply answer whatever question others gave her (even though that was few and far between and many of those are demeaning questions) but this time, she couldn't exactly trust this information to her. Especially due to Tabitha was not someone she truly knew at all. For now, she opted that she should give half-truth. After all, it wasn't like she truly lied.

"Wardes just wanted to discuss our upcoming marriage. He wished to advance the date to after our mission is over."

Tabitha nodded, "Agreed?" Louise turned away from the girl and frowned. She couldn't help but felt that she was hesitating. She liked Wardes for sure, but something in her mind was bugging her. "Ah, hesitation." Louise nodded, her face had spoken everything she felt.

"Don't get me wrong, I do like Viscount Wardes," her face turned slightly flustered when she mentioned the word 'like', unused to using that word. "But... I also feel like doing something first before truly settling down."

"Does that mean I have a chance?" Kirche suddenly made herself comfortable by laying down on Louise's left, who shrieked and moved away from her.

"If so that would mean I can have him for myself while you have your adventure," Kirche said it in a singsong manner that caused Louise tempted to strangle the redhead right then and there. Before she got the chance, however, Kirche suddenly held Louise's chin while looking at her with a seductive gaze. "Or maybe... I can have you instead?"

"Bwahwawawa?" The girl's face became as red as the seductress in front of her. The poor girl couldn't do anything to stop Kirche from slowly leaning towards her until their lips were inches apart before Tabitha stopped them with a palm placed between their face.

"Breakfast." She simply said and removed her hand. Louise thanked Tabitha and Brimir in her heart and managed to get off the bed, leaving Kirche pouting.

"Why did you stop me?" She asked Tabitha with light glare. The person in question tilted her head, saying "Ragna?".

"Oh Darling is handsome and perfect but..." she turned back to her seductress persona and watch Louise changing into her uniform. Said girl shivered and quickly put on the shirt to cover her underwear. "I don't see why pursuing two attractive people is wrong, I find it exciting too."

Tabitha could only sigh and change into her uniform.

 _'Today's stormy,'_ Tabitha thought.

* * *

 _Location: Goddess's Temple, Dining Hall_

Ragna the Bloodedge ate the food the inn provided, which happened to be a western breakfast that he never bothered to remember. The Grim Reaper noticed there were people staring at him but he shrugged it off. His weapons were placed beside him, leaning against the table.

As he continued to eat, a certain Viscount sat in front of him with the same damned smile.

"Good morning, familiar." He greeted and Ragna grunted in response. The way he greeted Ragna pissed the Reaper off.

"I have a question for you if you don't mind answering." Ragna, who just finished his meal, glared at the man. Nonetheless, he still responded with "Shoot."

"Are you the legendary familiar Gandalf?" That simple question caught Ragna off-guard. He could only stare at the Viscount in a stunned expression. Before he could say anything Wardes continued with a steepling pose, "That case with Fouquet, I hold a great interest in you. I asked Louise earlier, I heard you are from another world and I also heard you are the legendary Gandálfr."

Suddenly, Ragna felt tensed and felt that he should kill the man right now. Even though Wardes claimed that he knows all those events through Louise, he doubted that Louise would easily give such information to him. But he could neither confirm nor infirm the possibility of Louise disclosing it.

As Ragna tried to sort his mind out, Wardes continued, "I find history and warfare extremely interesting. When Fouquet was stopped, I became very interested in you. Then I did some research in the Imperial Library. The result of that research is my discovery that you are the legendary familiar Gandálfr."

"You can access that kind of Library." From what he can tell, its very important and he doubted even a high-rank man like him can access it easily.

"Of course, all I need to do was to gain clearance and I can enter the library."

 _'This isn't good. He seems to know me and whoever gave him that information is someone who saw what I did. There are the girls but I don't think that annoying brat and silent girl knows what I'm truly am. Louise knows me the most but she knows how to keep a secret. The only few people who knew it are still in the academy.'_

The only conclusion Ragna drew was something he had in mind for a while. _'There's a traitor among us.'_

"Anyhow, I have a request; Can you have a duel with me?" He emphasized his request by standing up and took out his wand.

"You mean a fight with me right?" Ragna got off his seat and strapped on his weapons. He pondered which one to used and decided to use Derflinger first. As much as he wanted to use his old sword, it might be overkill for now. Plus, 'accidentally' end his life here and now might put the mission into jeapordy. "So where do we go?"

"This hotel used to be a castle designed for repelling Albion invasions, there is a parade ground in the center of it," Wardes replied and walked towards the parade ground. Ragna followed him, feeling there was something wrong would happen.

* * *

 _Location: Goddess's Temple, Parade Ground_

When they arrived at the place, Ragna surveyed the area. From what he could observe, the ancient practice ground was now a place for debris and refuse with empty beer barrels and crates scattered all over the place. But he could see how this place could serve as a dueling field. There was enough space to roam around and avoid possible damage. From the scratches from the wall, it would seem that this was not the first time this area suffered damages from previous duels.

"Before (maybe you don't know) under the reign of Philip III, this often used to be a place to host duels between nobility."

"And does it have to do with our situation?" Ragna raised an eyebrow, feeling annoyed that the man in front of him casually giving him a history lesson.

"Allow me to finished first," Wardes countered with a slight annoyance in his voice. It took almost everything from Ragna not to grin. "In a time long ago, the king still had the power to duel, Nobles from the king's time… a time when Nobles were noble. Who risked life for fame and honor, we nobles fought with magic. But it is usually fought over boring issues, right, as if the two were fighting for a lover."

Ragna frowned at both the tone Wardes was using while giving his exposition and the mention of 'lover'. Does everyone saw him and Louise as lovers?

"Now then, before we begin there is a certain rule we have to abide. We need a witness and I had already called one." Just then, Louise came around the corner and dumbfounded by the appearance of the two men.

"Wardes, you called me over and I came, what are you two preparing to do?" She asked her fiance as she walked near the field.

"I want to test his abilities a little." The man simply replied as Ragna stabbed his sword a few meters away from the arena.

Louise could only sigh and glared at Wardes. "Really, let's stop this nonsense. Now is not the time for this kind of stupidities." She couldn't understand what's with men and the prospect of competition. She saw men fought for reasons ranging from normal to ridiculous.

"Sorry, but I wanted to have a bit of warm-up for the upcoming fights we're gonna have," Ragna walked back to his original position while doing a neck rotation. Louise became shocked by this response and couldn't say anything.

"Since the witness is here, let us begin."

The moment Wardes said 'begin', Ragna charged towards him and gave a jab on his face.

 **[Que: Rebellion from Blazblue]**

 **[Reconstruction of The Wheel is inevitable]**

 **[ENGAGE]**

 **"Flante Tempestas."** Wardes activated his Line Wind Barrier to push Ragna away from him. Ragna quickly recovered mid-air and found himself near a wall, so he decided to kick the wall and propelled himself back to Wardes. The other man frowned at the quick recovery and the rather wild fighting style, so he opted to side-step.

Ragna drew Derflinger from its sheath and both of their weapons clashed. Ragna forced Wardes into a deadlock with neither willing to push their weapon, trying to overpower each other. Ragna was the first one to do it and hooked the man's face, causing him to be disoriented for a moment. Ragna took advantage of it and engulfed his hand with darkness, throwing a punch at him.

 **"Hell's Fang!"** The attack connected with Wardes and he flew off due to the force of the attack. Luckily for him, he recovered enough and made a quick chant to stop himself from colliding the wall.

The Viscount stared at Ragna and a grin slowly crept up. He could taste some blood in his mouth and his heart throbbed in excitement. To him, even though he preferred not to engage in a battle but instead research or train his men, a good fight was something he would admit to secretly yearn for.

"Is that all you got?" Ragna taunted while giving a 'Come at me' gesture. The other man responded in kind by standing up and made a high speed chanting that sound like jibberish to Ragna.

The moment he chanted, the Bloodedge swung his blade at the man, who nimbly dodge and aimed his wand right at Ragna's face.

 **"Faible Tonnerre!"** Ragna felt his entire body was in pain as electricity surge through his body. He screamed in pained until he started to fell down backward. Louise, who was watching it happen, covered her mouth in horror. Terrified by what her fiance had done. Faible Tonnerre, while weak, was still a rather lethal spell if not used carefully. To see Ragna take on this spell right in his face could potentially kill him!

"Are you trying to kill him Wardes?!" Louise shouted at Wardes, mad at what he had done.

"Well," Wardes tried to explain, but he suddenly felt a fist connected the side of his face and rolled on the floor. He looked up and shocked that Ragna was still standing with parts of his clothes sizzling. The amount of electric shock could've made the man fainted on the spot, but Ragna exceeded his expectation and delivered a punch on his face!

"If," Ragna straightened himself and glared at Wardes. "You think this will knock me out, you're damn wrong. I eat electricity since I was a kid and what you give me is nothing compared to the one I get every day!" He proceeded to trust his sword downward with a reverse grip, which missed his target. He expected it anyway and proceeded to swing upward and nicked Wardes's nose. He continued his assault by holding his sword in normal grip again and swung downward with both of his hands. Their weapons clash once more and Ragna wildly attack the other man. To many eyes, it looked like there was no strategy involved. But Wardes can tell these eccentric attacks were focused on his vulnerable spots.

Steel clash against steel as sparks produced from the collisions. Just when both of them nearly land a decisive blow, Louise's scream.

"Stop! That's enough!"

 **[FINISHED]**

Both men stopped and turned to the girl, who was flustered in anger as she stomped towards them. Ragna grumbled but nevertheless sheathed his weapon and decided to leave as soon as possible. But he was stopped by the girl, who held his coat and shot a glare at him.

"Both of you, I think the moment both of you landed your own blows are enough to show your strength." Louise reprimanded them and continued, not allowing them to speak. "You!" She pointed at Wardes, "Do you have any idea how close you are killing my mentor?! I don't care how weak it is but shoot him **at his face** is nothing short of nearly committing murder!"

She turned to Ragna and started to berate him. "As for you, why didn't you call it off. You could've told him you are not interested and not fight. Look at you now, you're hurt!"

"It's nothing okay. His lightning is-"

"My point is that this is unnecessary! I don't want to deal with an unconscious person who is much larger than me! Got it?!"

Ragna only sighed and nodded while Wardes could only felt like he deserved her anger for what he had done.

"Now that we are done. Let us go back to the inn and rest. We have a busy day tomorrow." She said that and turned around, quickly leaving the place.

As all three of them were walking, Ragna heard Wardes whispered to him. "You were holding back didn't you?" The man sounded slightly angry for some reason, which Ragna decided to ignore for now.

"So? You were holding back too, even though you shot a bolt of lightning right at my face." He could still a bit of static around his face and there was still a small amount of smoke came out from his coat.

Wardes nodded and turned to Ragna with a determined expression. "Next time I won't hold back, and that time will be the time I win."

Ragna grinned evilly at him and lightly tap his shoulder. "Try harder, I can say you can't even land a good hit on me."

Wardes made a "Hmph." and they continued to make their way back to the inn. At the back of Ragna's mind, he couldn't help but to feel something was wrong in this mission.

* * *

A/N

And done. Happy belated Christmas and Happy Birthday to Noel Vermillion! Anyway, I have no excuse this time around. I procrastinated this chapter the whole time due to lack of motivation and the constant stuff I have to deal with for my college had kept me from writing this whole thing. TBH, if I didn't do the former I would've made this chapter into about 5k plus but as of now, I am slightly out of motivation to make any further. I'm sure the evidence is in this chapter with it's quality.

It's sad really since I was very passionate about this but now I'm a bit worn out. Not to the point of quitting but definitely hampered me to do more. Plus, I found a new kind of interesting things to do since the last update like going back to my childhood tv series Kamen Rider (Masked Rider in English) and going out more. TBH, it's like my life changed so much that it's hard for me to integrate writing back into my life. But worry not, I really am planning to continue until the end of Season 1.

With all that said, let's answer some of you guy's question.

Sundarkness2017: Thanks for the praise and criticism. I re-read the chapter and I felt that Louise is more or less still right to react that way. She still trusted the man who was her fiance and, when being flustered, is too tunnel-visioned from seeing how clingy Wardes is. Though I will still take this into my heart and try to make Lousie less naive(?).

RedBurningDragon: It's in the chapter and if it disappoints you. I apologize. As far as I concerned, I don't think he has evidence on his belongings, thus harder to accuse him. That and I think Wardes had a decent acting skill to make him less suspicious.

Laefeon12: Well, she's a little sister figure to him so of course, he has a soft spot for her.

Kotano-chan: Well, it's really late to say this but... I'm back. I'm sure you just finished your finals too and now am enjoying your weekends. I hope your holidays are fun. Anyway, that is quite the dedication. You check stories that are discontinued even though you know it won't be back anymore.  
So, what do you think of this chapter? I think my quality went downhill due to lack of time writing and motivation to keep going. I mean at the back of my mind I know I need to keep going to give a good closure for you guys before I take a vacation from this story, so you don't have to worry about it. Well, it would definitely be much different like giving another perspective from other characters and more. To be honest, I was actually tempted to make Wardes being the 'Saito' in this chapter, being stuck on the land while the rest go but alas, lack of motivation killed my idea. About Tabitha's situation, the true reason is not that Ragna feels that she is like another little sister. It's just that Tabitha is not being mean or annoying to Ragna. Trust me, she's a rare case to our local Grim Reaper. Now as for your last paragraph of words... I don't think I can say anything since the situation and error were fixed.

KingJGamer: Yes, PC and PS3. But nowadays I barely played it.

With all that, I guess this is goodnight. Next time we meet, I seriously hope it will be in a better circumstance.

Also, Spidey Bells anyone?


	17. Chapter 13

*Disclaimer*

I do not own Familiar of Zero and Blazblue. They belong to their respective creators and publishers.

Without further ado. Let's begin.

* * *

 _Location: Goddess's Inn Hub_

Night fell as the group of six were having a party since, tomorrow, they will depart for the floating country. The group drank while Ragna simply ate his dinner, content with just having food. As he ate, he recalled what happened in the past hours.

After the duel, both fighters were sent to see a water mage to have their wounds healed. While Wardes required more attention, Ragna's wounds were mostly healed. Curious about his amazing healing, Wardes asked Ragna how his wound healed in such a small matter of time.

The Grim Reaper simply replied he just do. He knew that it was his right arm, the Azure Grimoire, the one who allowed him to heal this quickly due to its healing factor granted to him.

After that, the group went and had their own activities. Most of them stayed in the inn while Ragna went out to explore the city. It was, to him, interesting to see houses being built in a mountain. It works as both a nice place to live in and a powerful stronghold. By the time he went back, it was already evening.

As they continued their party, Guiche spoke up to Ragna.

"Sir Ragna, why are your clothes singed?" He asked and then took a small sip of his drink.

The reaper paused for a second before continue eating. "Does it matter to you?"

This time it was Kirche who joined the conversation, who stood up from her seat and got near the Reaper. "Of course, it does Darling!" She exclaimed. "With singed clothes that would mean you were hurt when you went outside hours ago. Do not worry about telling us who assaulted you, just tell me and I shall bring justice to them."

"That would be me who assaulted him," Wardes replied. Kirche became flabbergasted and quickly backed down. This got Wardes a good chuckle and he continued. "I requested him into a duel thus he was injured. I'm surprised you didn't have your clothes fixed."

"This is nothing. The clothes got into a worse punishment before." He simply said and continued eating. The students immediately remembered the state of his clothes when he first arrived into this land. It looked so horrible that they can tell he went through something that could kill them easily.

As they continued, the door suddenly slammed open and caught everyone's attention. A group of soldiers marched in and surveyed the silent room.

When the leader (from what everyone can assume) had his gaze on the group, Ragna and Wardes tensed up as they felt something was wrong.

When the leader raised his hand to signal his men, Ragna took his stool and threw it to him and dazed the man. As soon as that happened, the troops began to assault the group.

Then, the room turned into pandemonium.

Guiche, Kirche, Tabitha, and Wardes were using magic to defend themselves. Ragna, on the other hand, charged into the army. He brandished his sword and mercilessly slashed anyone who tried to kill him. The Grim Reaper felt himself being lighter once more as the power of Gandalf enhances his combat prowess to a height similar to the Six Heroes.

As he continued his rampage, the others took cover behind a table which one of its legs was broken off by Kirche. As they were behind the table, they heard the screams of those soldiers.

"This is troublesome. At the very least we have someone who is capable of fighting them head-on." Kirche nodded after hearing it. She was worried about the Reaper but from the looks of it, it seems the man was winning.

Just then they heard Ragna shouted at them. "Hey! When I get you guys an opening-whoa-you better move your asses to the port!" He dodged an arrow that he missed and took down another soldier. That arrow stuck itself on the make-shift barricade which caused Guiche to yelp.

"We have to back him up though, it is impossible for one man to open a path for us no matter how powerful he is," Louise noted as she was making an escape plan in her mind.

"What do you suggest. I can only use up to 10 Valkyries if you are wondering." Guiche held up his wand to prepare for chanting.

Kirche shook her head and peeked outside. "I don't think that would help, it would only impede Darling."

Tabitha, who was still reading a book for some reason, closed her book and uses her staff to point at the general direction of where Ragna was. "Distraction."

"And we will go to the port ourselves?" Wardes asked Tabitha. The blue-haired girl shook her head and point back to Ragna. "When we're safe, he follows."

The group took a few seconds to think and agreed. "Alright, we will use the backdoor to escape. Once we did, we will send a signal to him." Wardes said and everyone began to move.

Once everyone got to the backdoor, Louise called out to Ragna. "Ragna!"

The Reaper glanced back and nodded. But instead of following her, he extended his sword into its scythe form and made a faster work in his slaughter.

Louise was shocked by his action and kept the door opened. Kirche, who noticed Louise wasn't following them, called her you. "What are you doing Zero?! Get Darling out of there!"

"He's fighting more people and-" She turned back and saw Ragna had made his way through the front door, leaving bodies of soldiers behind as he continued. "He just left through the front gate!"

Kirche wanted to go back and fetch the man but was yanked away by Tabitha, who uses her staff to hook the redhead's shirt's collar. Louise clicked her tongue and turned around, before saying what she felt needed.

"Northwest is where our destination located! Get there quickly!" She sprinted away and slammed the door shut.

* * *

 _Location: La Rochelle streets_

 **[Que: Run from Blazblue]**

 **[Dash to the top! Chase The Wheel!]**

 **[ENGAGE!]**

"Just die!" Ragna swung his blade and cleaved another soldier in half. He tried to get to the destination quickly, but he wasn't making much progress.

His enemies, however, became wary of him and put themselves in a safe distance. They realized their numbers were dwindling fast and it will only paint the street with more blood. When Ragna was going to charge into the remaining soldiers, he noticed a shadow loomed over him.

He dodged the incoming attack, kicking a soldier into the attack and avoid being crushed by a giant stone hand.

"So, we meet again Gandalf!" A familiar feminine voice called out to him. Looking up, he was shocked by the familiar green cloak that he was seeing now.

"Fouquet?! What the hell are you doing here?"

She lifted up a fur bag and shook it lightly. "I was paid well, enough to feed a family for a year."

Ragna clicked his tongue laid his blade on his shoulder. "So, you got paid to annoy the hell out of me? I guess I'll just knock you far away enough to get the hell away from me." He dashed up to Fouquet by running on the golem's hand.

The thief, who saw the feat once, turn the rough surface of the golem smooth. The sudden change in the surface caused Ragna tumbled and nearly fell off as he barely embedded his blade into the golem fast enough to save himself.

"Shit..." Ragna held onto his blade as he dangled on the golem. He couldn't believe he was forced into this situation and... was that the golem's hand coming towards him?

The managed to grab him and to his surprise, it didn't try to crush him. In his confusion, he was pulled closer to Fouquet. The female thief got close to his ear and whispered to him.

"There is a knife behind your back." After that, she pecked his cheek and gave a cheeky smile and slowly turn into a pile of clay. "Be sure to say hi to the kids." She said in a singsong way and gave a wink to him.

He widened eyes with a tint of red on his cheek and barely reacted when the golem crumbled. The man landed roughly on his side and slowly got up. Once he got up, he thought back on what Fouquet said before.

 _'A knife behind my back... does that mean... They're going for the kill!'_

The Reaper took his sword that landed a few centimeters away from him and sprinted towards his destination. None of the remaining soldiers bothered to stop him anymore. They would rather preserve their life than risking stopping a force of nature.

The Grim Reaper ran towards the northwest, his road was illuminated by the bright moon. When he was approaching a certain tall building, he saw Wardes and the group running into the building. He pushed himself to go faster but was stopped by a hooded white masked man.

"Move, I got a place to go." He shifted himself to be ready for battle.

The man stood his ground and shifted into his battle stance that looked similar to Wardes's. Ragna noted the similarity between the two, with both catered to be used for rapiers. He chalked it up to be the standard stance for the military of the country.

"That, I wouldn't comply." The man spoke with a disfigured voice. It honestly felt ear grating for the Reaper, but it wouldn't matter to him. He must get into the building and regroup with Louise and the children.

"Fine, you're dead to me." He dashed towards the mysterious man with **Hell's Fang** , planning to end the fight as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, the move was dodged, and the man went for a stab on Ragna's shoulder. Ragna quickly reacts by ducking down and punch the man in the gut, sending him off flying to somewhere.

With a few seconds, Ragna dashed into the building and, as he ran up, he can see Louise and the rest were making their way up through the tall building.

"Louise!" He called out to her. The pinkette turned around, only to see the mysterious man running towards the Reaper. "Behind you!"

Thanks to the warning, Ragna managed to turn around and block the incoming attack with Derflinger. "You just can't leave me alone can you?"

Their weapons broke off and clashed again as the two men tried to land a decisive blow. Each attack the men made were either blocked or dodged. But Ragna held an advantage as he slowly moved backward, going up, which gave him the upper ground. The other man seemed to know that, and he relentlessly aimed for the legs.

The Reaper winced as one of the mysterious man's attacks managed to cut Ragna's leg. He didn't let it bother him and he went for the overhead slash. The mysterious man dodged and then pushed Ragna to fell off the stairs.

Ragna grabbed onto the ledge and looked up. The man pulled up his rapier and was ready to finish off Ragna.

" **Fireball!** " He heard Kirche's voice.

A literal fireball flew towards the man in high speed and he managed to block it with a spinning sphere barrier of wind that surrounded him. Ragna pushed himself back up and switch Derflinger for his own weapon.

He roundhouse kicks the barrier, which caused the mysterious man raised an eyebrow under his mask. The Reaper immediately steps forward for a forward-leaning inward reverse-grip sword swipe and stabs the sword, coated in Seithr, into the ground, causing Seithr to burst out and knocks the man down.

"Gotcha asshole!" Ragna exclaim as he proceeded to use **Dead Spike** to knock the man into mid-air then kicked him higher into the air. The masked man felt pain all over his body and his strength was sapped from his body.

Right after that, Ragna slashed the man across his body. Blood spewed out of his chest as Ragna continued his combo. He hopped into the air, kicking him and slashing him again and bring both of them back down to the ground with **Nightmare Edge**. He finally ends his combo with a follow-up attack by bringing his blade behind himself over his leading shoulder, performing a slamming slash with Seithr trailing it.

The attack sent the man flung wildly away from the Reaper. Blood and wounds could be seen across his body and it was a miracle his body was not in pieces. The Reaper managed to grab the collar of the masked man and pulled him closer while leaving him hanging.

"So, do you want to talk?" Ragna said menacingly. He placed the edge of his own sword on the masked man's neck, threatening him for information.

The man chuckled menacingly and then…

 ***BOOM***

The man burst into lightning which electrocuted Ragna. He screamed in pain as the lightning coursed through his body.

"That's **Thunder Trap**!" Derflinger exclaimed, recognizing the spell that was used.

"Ragna!" Louise ran down to him, ignoring the others trying to stop her. On the way there, she notices one streak of lightning moved into the sheath of Derflinger. But a second later, it stopped and continued to course through the Reaper.

When Louise got near him, she flinched slightly when one streak hit her.

"Why is he being electrocuted so long?!" Kirche wondered out loud. It's been 6 seconds already and yet it didn't stop.

" **Thunder Trap** is a suicide spell that will continue until its target dies! Crap, if only I… darn it, he's going to die!" Wardes exclaimed and lift up his wand quickly. "I can't believe I'm doing this. Stay away from me." The teenagers stepped away from him. He muttered a chant quickly and the wand, acting as a lightning rod, caused the electricity shot towards the wand.

Once he gathered the electricity, he flicked the wand through a window and released the harmful power out into the air. Lightning crackles through the atmosphere as the sound of thunder echoed through the city.

 **[Goal Reached]**

Louise, who was near Ragna, barely stopped him from falling off the stairs. The Reaper was nearly charred, with his clothes nearly turned into ashes and his entire body was sizzling from darkened parts. She could hear him breathe erratically and felt somewhat relieved he survived.

"Wardes, help me to lift him." The viscount complied and went to lift the man. _'He said he got worse before, is this his limit?'_ Wardes thought as he dragged the man up to the top. The teenagers were silent the whole way as they worried about the Reaper.

"I… I'm surprised he's still alive," Guiche commented. He winced slightly when he saw Louise and Kirche's expression fell even more. "W-well, I mean Tabitha here can heal him, right? She uses water magic after all."

The blue-haired girl shook her head. "Combat."

Guiche sighed and became down crested. None of them can say anything more and any mention of Ragna would damage the team's morale. The team continued to climb against the flight of stairs and eventually reached the top.

When they reached the top, they saw a huge tree, branching out in every direction. It had the size of a mountain that spoken its age. Between the branches, a ship that looked like a zeppelin was parked there.

Kirche and Guiche looked at the tree in awe. They heard of the Tree Harbour but to witness it was a whole different experience. Louise, on the other hand, had gotten used to seeing it as she used to go to Albion with her father for business reasons. Tabitha… just being herself.

"Enough dilly-dallying, we have to go." Wardes moved quickly towards the root which acted as the lobby. The group followed him and continued their way to the top by jogging through another flight of stairs made out of the tree's wood.

Between each flight of stairs were metal panels, each telling which stations were there in each direction. As they jog up, Guiche couldn't help but be slightly worried the stairs will fall off as he can see La Rochelle's lights between the flight of stairs.

During the climbing, Ragna was stirred awake. He glanced around before Wardes noticed his awakening. "Finally awake?"

"How long was I out?" He asked. He felt pain throughout his body and he could smell smoke, most likely from himself.

"About half an hour. You were hit by a **Thunder Trap** and you were lucky I was there to stop it from killing you." Wardes replied with slight annoyance and then immediately stop dragging him. "Now you are better you should walk on your own."

Ragna stumbled for a bit before managed to get himself back up. Kirche was happy he was awake now and Louise asked was he okay.

"Yeah, I'm good now… still feeling hurt all over." Ragna replied to Louise. With the fact, Ragna was awake now, the group resume at a faster pace for the last flight of stairs they must climb.

Behind the last flight of stairs was a branch. On that branch, a ship just docked there. It was shaped more like a yacht, perhaps to let it fly. There were wings on the sides. From the ship dangled who-knows-how-many ropes, all tied onto the branches. The branch they were standing on extended all the way to the ship's deck.

Ragna looked around his environment and took in the details. They were pretty high up and it seemed that they were in a tree of some sort that acted as a harbor for airships. Ragna wondered how these ships float and why does this consider a port.

Just then, the group stepped on board, and a sailor sleeping on the deck climbed up. "Hey, you! What are you doing?!"

"Where's the captain?" The viscount asked rudely.

"He's sleeping. Come back in the morning." The man replied frostily and drunkenly and drank from his rum bottle.

Wardes did not answer and pulled his staff out. "You want a noble to repeat what he just said? I said get the captain!"

"A n-noble!" The sailor stood up immediately and ran for the captain's quarters.

Ragna glared at Wardes for his behavior, immediately protest about it. "The hell's wrong with you? You stepped into the yacht and now you scare the guy."

"Time is of essence familiar, we need to get to Albion as soon as possible before our assailant catches up." Wardes reasoned to Ragna. As much as he wanted to slug the Viscount's face, he wouldn't do that now since he heard someone walking to them.

The sailor brought back a sleepy, fifty-something old man with a hat on. He seemed to be the captain judging from his appearance. "What do you want?" He looked at Wardes suspiciously.

"Leader of Her Majesty's Mage Guard, Captain Wardes."

The captain's eyes bulged, and he switched to more formal words after learning Wardes' identity as a noble of high caliber. "Oh, uh... then, what services may this ship perform for you..."

"Take us to Albion. Depart now."

"Madness!" The captain exclaimed.

"This is upon Her Majesty's orders. Are you going against the Royal Court?" Wardes raised his voice at the captain.

"I don't know what you're going to Albion for, but we can't depart until morning!"

"Why?"

"Albion's the closest to Tristainia in the morning! We don't have enough wind stones to get there from here right now."

"Wind stones?" asked Ragna.

The captain gave him a perplexed look as if thinking he's an alien, and answered, "Stones that store wind magic. This ship can't fly without them."

"I see"

The captain then turned to Wardes. "Your Excellency, this ship only has enough wind stones in store to travel the shortest distance to Albion. If we had more, we could have gone earlier. But for now, we cannot depart. We'll drop out of the sky while halfway there."

"I'll make up for however much you lack in wind stones. I'm a square wind mage."

The captain and his sailors looked at each other. The captain then turned to Wardes and nodded. "Then that's fine. You will have to pay, though."

"What's the cargo?"

"Sulphur. Right now, it's worth its weight in gold. The nobles have increased the price in desperation for security. To have that, gunpowder and fire elements are a must."

"Sell all of that to me at that price."

The captain nodded, perhaps with a devious smile. With the deal done, the captain made one order after another. "Leave port! Untie anchors! Set sail!"

The sailors followed orders, all the while complaining under their breath. They expertly removed the ropes from the branches, climbed to the securing ropes on both sides, and released the sails.

Without the ties, the ship suddenly sank, and then floated again with the power of the wind stones.

"When can we reach Albion?" Wardes asked.

"We'll arrive at Scarborough Port tomorrow at noon." The captain replied.

Ragna and those who had not traveled in the air before looked at the ground from the port side. The "harbor" could be seen between the huge tree's branches. La Rochelle's lights soon faded into darkness. They seemed to be traveling rather fast.

Louise approached Ragna and put a hand on his shoulder. "Ragna are you okay? You looked serious." She worriedly looked at him. Kirche who was beside Louise agreed. "Is there something on your mind?"

"… It's not your problem." He simply said before gently pushed Louise's hand from his shoulder. He was on edge as he knew there was a traitor among them for real now. The issue was… who was it? Who sold them out?

Wardes approached them. "From what I heard from the captain, the Albion Royal Army near Newcastle was completely surrounded and is fighting an uphill battle."

Louise, clearly scared, asked, "What about Prince Wales?"

Wardes shook his head. "I'm not sure. He seems to be alive..."

"Wait... isn't the harbor completely taken over by the rebels?"

"Yes, it is."

"Then how can we contact the Royal Family?"

"We'll just have to fight our way out. It takes only a day on horseback from Scarborough to Newcastle."

"Fighting out of the rebels?"

"Right. That's the only choice we have. They can't really openly attack the Tristainian nobility, I think. We'll have to find a chance to break out of their circle and run straight for Newcastle. All we have to think about then is riding in the dark."

Louise anxiously nodded, and asked, "Speaking of which, Wardes, where's your griffin?"

Wardes grinned. He leaned out portside and whistled. From right under the ship came the sound of the griffin's wings. It landed onto the deck, scaring some of the sailors.

Guiche merely sighed and told everyone he's checking in as he was tired. So was Kirche and she dragged Tabitha to sleep in the same room, again.

"Can't we just get to Albion on that over-sized bird instead of the ship?" The griffin huffed with annoyance for being called a bird but Ragna ignored it.

"It's not a dragon. It can't fly that far as griffins are only good for its speed, not stamina. Wind Dragons like Tabitha's dragon have the stamina and speed." Louise answered.

"Hm… then why didn't we do that moments ago then… tch, no use for thinking about it." Ragna quickly dismissed the topic and sat near the mast. He mulled over who was the traitor and finally reached a conclusion of his own.

' _It's either the brat… or you, Viscount Wardes.'_

* * *

A/N

Ah, I'm finally done. It's been a while since I made an update didn't I. Sorry it took so long once more but without further delay, let me react/answer to you guy's review.

Astrefernal: I'm not done with this yet and as of now, I have plenty of plotlines to work with.

RedBurningDragon: And the moment he slips up, it would be the most satisfying moment in this fic. Trust me, the build-up is also quite exciting for me when I write it.

SunDarkness2018: Yikes, sounds like I failed to deliver what I've learned. While I was writing the last chapter I didn't notice their reactions were quite forced in a way. But I'll improve on it. I could only hope it won't take too long for me.

ArmantusCumPinnae: I won't abandon it anytime soon. As I said, it will continue until the end of Season 1. But if you wonder will I do Season 2, that would be a definite yes, but as a separate fic. Also, RagVille (my official dubbing of the ship) is here again.

Kotano-chan: Hello Kotano-chan, good to see you again. I can understand your lateness, it was the same for me 2 years ago and it was hell. But I'm sure you can do it. Just keep up your hard work and you'll do fine. Heck, push yourself if you want to get better in your studies! Anyway, life changes and things we used to love becomes nostalgic for us. I mean look at me, I read the LN and I felt nostalgic about what I loved about FOZ and now I'm still reading it. Someday, my friend, you'll definitely get your inspiration back as I do.

I'm glad you do like it. I'm slightly disappointed by it back then due to the fact I noticed how rusty I have become and I'm polishing my skills back to how I used to be and more. It was thanks to some of my friends who got my grooves back and even pointed out some of the mistakes that I've made and I've become more confident with my skills these days. As for the dream sequence, it was just a random thought I had when I was writing it. Really, it just comes out of nowhere.

If I am to describe the Halkegenian girls, that would be 'girls-desperately-want-true-love-because-anime'. And I have to agree, Siesta has a lot of attention for being the main target of Yuri subtext/ girl-on-girl action in the entire series. I mean, remember she kissed Louise by accident then eventually talk as if she's in love with Louise?

As for what happened off-screen, yes it happened the same way in the LN. I didn't bother writing it because there will be little to no changes at all and it will be just a rehash of the scene. The only difference was Ragna never bothered them but instead went to sleep. Hoo boy, been a while since I wrote a response that long.

Anyway, with all that said and done, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and let me know what I can improve upon again. Thanks for reading and good night.


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